Running for Cover
by haleigh.l
Summary: One moment changes their relationship. What does it take to get them back to where they belong? Rating for language, smut, and angst. Set post PL, but only minor spoilers. Babe story, slightly Joe friendly, now complete.
1. Prolouge

_This is a new, full-length story, that's been a long time in the making. I didn't think it was all that angsty, but I've since been corrected. So this is your angst warming._

_This is a babe story, with a babe happy ending. My goal was to try to write 'angry Ranger' - so there will be some of you who won't like this story. Fair warning. He is a bastard in parts of this. I hope that in the end, you love him even more. Cupcakes - this is very Joe friendly. He doesn't start out so well, but he redeems himself in a major way - stick with me._

_Set immediately post-Plum Lucky (like the next day), but only minor spoilers; Rating for language and smut; I don't own them, don't make any profit, will return them...etc._

_Now for the good part..._

_There is a stack of people who need to be thanked, without whom this story would not exist. So thank you, sincerely, to: Lindsay, for brainstorming this whole thing into existence with me; Tracy for brainstorming, what was it, four different endings?; Melody for all her help with the tone; Nichole for all her editing to make sure it's readable; Lisa for making sure there was enough angst; And Jenn, who gives the best feedback ever (F'n hell, girl!)_

**This is pre-written, so I'll post at least every other day. I do make lots of changes along the way, so if there's anything you have questions about, want to see, or if you just plain love or hate it, don't forget to review!**

* * *

_December…_

"I want a divorce." Steph laid a stack of papers, about a quarter inch thick, on the table between them and sat down.

Ranger stared at her for a full minute with no expression before looking down at the papers. He leafed through them, glancing at the information on each.

She sat on the palms of her hands so he wouldn't notice how badly they were shaking. But between her exhaustion and his unexpected appearance, she wasn't sure how long she could maintain even that much of a facade of calm.

She tried to wait patiently while he read, but as the minutes ticked by, it became harder and harder. Her breath was shallow, her heart was hammering away, and she could already feel heat pooling in her cheeks. She knew he wasn't going to be thrilled with some of the information in the settlement, and she hated that she was going to have to defend herself.

"There's nothing here for you," he finally said. "It's all for the baby."

She bristled. "Her name is Olivia."

"Okay. It's all for Olivia. There's still nothing in this settlement for you."

Which she had done on purpose. "I'm pretty sure that having an accidental child doesn't entitle me to your money. It is quite generous for Livy and if you're not okay with that–"

He snapped the papers shut and cut her off with a look. "I'm fine with that. The current financial help is too low. And you're entitled to a settlement of your own, Stephanie. You're my wife."

She flinched at the word and hoped he didn't notice. "I'm pretty sure the term doesn't apply to our situation," she said before she could stop herself.

He raised an eyebrow.

She sighed and bit down on the inside of her cheek to stop herself from saying anything else as stupid – or worse, as revealing – as that.

When it was obvious she wasn't going to say anything else, he flipped the pages back open. "Why isn't there child support?"

"Because I don't need your money. There's medical insurance, trust funds set up for every stage of her education, and security. I can handle everything else."

"It isn't about you handling it, Stephanie," he said without looking up at her. "It's about me providing for half of her expenses. And I'm not okay with the custody and visitation."

She just nodded. She hadn't figured he'd agree to the fairly extensive visitation she'd laid out, but she felt she had to try for Livy's sake. And she wasn't done trying. She might let Ranger dictate the parameters of their relationship – or non-relationship – but she wasn't about to let him become another name on a check to another daughter.

"I want joint legal custody," he said.

She blinked. "What?"

"All decisions about the ba–Olivia," he corrected himself when she glared. "All decisions have to be made jointly. Visitation can wait until she's no longer nursing, but I want it to steadily increase so that by the time she's in school, it's split evenly."

"Why?" Steph said. Though as soon as it came out, she realized she probably shouldn't have said it. This is what she had wanted for their daughter and he was offering it without a fight. No reason to make him think twice about it by questioning his motives.

"She's my daughter, Stephanie. Do you need more of a reason?"

"No," she said softly. She stood up, desperate to get away from him. "Just have your lawyer make whatever changes you want and send the paperwork back to me. And you can leave now."

She turned and walked back to the bedroom without seeing if he would stay or go. To be honest, she didn't really care.

…

He didn't move as she walked out of the room. A second later, he heard the bedroom door shut and the flimsy lock click into place.

He flipped back through the divorce papers she had drawn up. His own lawyer had drawn up similar papers five months ago. The money allocations in those papers were significantly higher than in Steph's papers. And his papers hadn't allowed him visitation, much less custody. Everything concerning the baby had gone directly to Stephanie.

But he had been pissed then, and he wasn't now. And he sure as hell wasn't signing the papers.

_Let me know what you think! _


	2. Chapter 1

Thanks so much for the reviews - keep them coming! I tried to respond to each, but if I didn't get you, know that I sincerely appreciate your time reading and reviewing.

Rating for smut (this chapter) and language; don't own them, will return them, etc.

**Quick clarification: I am not a shithead** (Sam!). Or at least, I don't think I am. When I said this story is pre-written, I mean that most of the chapters are complete. There is still a lot of work to be done, however – last minute checks and edits, changes based on the reviews, etc. So the every day or every other day timeline is still _very _tight, and will become even more difficult as the Spring semester gets underway. The next person to call me names in a review (Sam!) is going to get a cupcake ending! Ohhhh….. (you know I love you, babe :)

Part of this chapter was Christie's birthday present, so BC babes, you might recognize parts of it. Of course, I had to rip off that happy ending…

This chapter is set immediately post Plum Luck (the next day!)

* * *

_March (ten months previously)…_

Ranger stared at the photographs Lester had dumped on his desk. "Fuck."

"Yeah. The cop's an idiot."

Ranger scrubbed his hands over his face. He'd only been gone a few days, but hadn't slept more than an hour in that time. Nor had he been able to let down his guard for a second. That kind of vigilance exhausted him even more than the lack of sleep. To top it off, while he had been gone things had gone wrong in the Miami office - things that he was going to have to clean up. And now this. "Does she have any idea?"

"I don't think so." Lester waited as Ranger tried to decide what to do. "Are you going to tell her?" he said.

"She has a right to know."

"Let me know what you want us to do about the cop," Lester said as he walked out the door. It clicked shut behind him, leaving Ranger with the silence and the damn pictures. He flipped through them again. Fucking dumbass cop. A cop should be better at spotting surveillance, and shouldn't have let them catch him horizontal with a mob princess.

He stood and pulled his jacket on. Standing at the corner of his desk, he stared down at the incriminating snapshots, trying to decide if he should take them with him. Finally, he scooped them into a manila envelope and tucked it in the inside pocket of his jacket.

Going to Steph's on as little sleep as he'd had was probably a bad idea. But he didn't want to wait - he couldn't keep this from her.

It was snowing, just little flurries, but enough to slick the roads as he drove toward her apartment. He flipped the wipers and peered at an intersection that had lost power. The interior of the truck was stifling hot from running the defroster on full blast, but was silent. The only noise was the occasional swish of the tires slicing through the slushy muck coating the roads.

When he reached her parking lot, he pulled the gearshift to park and stared up at her window. The light pouring out of it gave off a cheerful, inviting glow. As he watched, he could see her shadow as she walked into the kitchen, and then back out a moment later. Hot cocoa. He'd bet money that she was pouring a mug of cocoa. It was just one of those kind of nights.

He knocked instead of picking the locks. When she opened the door, her eyes widened in surprise and he could hear her involuntary gasp of air. She had on a thick warm sweater, sweat pants, and her hair was tugged up in a messy ponytail. In her hand was a mug of steaming cocoa.

"Hey, I thought you were out of town."

"Just got back." He stared at her for another minute, drinking in her features, before he was no longer able to hold back the smile prompted by the sight of her. "Gonna let me in?"

"Oh!" She grinned at him and stepped back, opening the door wider for him. He followed her into the living room where she curled up on the couch under a blanket.

"Cold?"

She nodded, burying further into the blanket, and brought the mug to her lips. Only her nose and her eyes were showing. She lifted the mug towards him. "You want some?"

"Sure."

Her eyes widened again, making him smile. She started to wiggle her way out from under the blanket, but he stopped her. He dropped a kiss on the top of her head as he walked past. "I'll get it. Stay warm."

Her mouth was disguised by the steaming mug, but her eyes were smiling at him.

He tried to come up with a plan as he poured a mug for himself. He was too tired to figure out the least hurtful way to tell her. Really, any way he chose was bound to be bad. The phrase 'shoot the messenger' was running through his head. Not that he thought Steph would shoot him in a literal sense, but he wouldn't appreciate taking the cop's heat for this. Before he left the kitchen, just to be safe, he checked the cookie jar. Two guns were in there, both unloaded.

He sat down on the opposite end of the couch from her, and lifted her legs, still wrapped in the blanket, onto his lap. He took a sip of the cocoa and watched her over the rim of the mug.

"Last time you agreed to chocolate you were here to..." she trailed off, as though she had just realized what the end of that sentence was and her face flushed darkly.

He winked at her. "This isn't that kind of visit." Grabbing the remote off the coffee table, he started flipping through channels. He stopped on a hockey game and raised an eyebrow at her in question. She nodded, resting her head against the back of the couch.

"So where's the horse?"

A burst of laughter escaped her. "I guess back at home. Diesel's gone too, so you don't have to worry. But you saw the gate..."

He cut his eyes to her. "You're lucky I'm insured. I told the adjuster it was some crazy lady with PMS."

She bit her lower lip, trying to hide her amusement. "I'm sorry. He made me do it. I didn't want to--"

"It's okay, babe."

She smiled and studied him, as if knowing it wasn't his entire reason for showing up. He focused back on the TV, following the hockey puck around the screen, but didn't turn to look at her. Finally he realized he just had to spit it out. "Lester got suspicious and started trailing Morelli."

He felt her body stiffen. She didn't respond and he kept staring at the game, though he was no longer paying attention. Steph swung her bound legs off his lap and wrestled the blanket from around her. Once she was free, she stood and walked into the dining room.

He gave her a minute to collect herself before following her. Stopping in the doorway, he braced both hands above him on the doorframe, blocking her access to the cookie jar. She had her back to him, staring out the window at the lazy snowflakes.

"Do you want to know?" he said softly.

She took a deep breath - even from the back, he could see her straighten, bolster herself. She turned around and looked him in the eye. "Just give me a yes or a no."

He tilted his head, a fraction of a nod, but it was enough confirmation. She turned away from him, but not before he caught the sheen of tears in her eyes. He slowly flexed his hands, which had squeezed into tight fists without his even noticing. Stepping up behind her, he rested his hands on her shoulders and then watched, absently, as they tightened in a gentle pressure and then slid up and down the arms of her wool sweater. Her dark head dipped forward and her body drooped listlessly. With the slightest tug of his hands, she leaned back against his chest. Her hair, when he leaned down to press a kiss to her temple, smelled clean and fresh like her shampoo; her skin was cool and smooth under his lips. There was a stupid commercial playing on the TV, the laugh track sounding garishly inappropriate in the still apartment.

"You must think I'm a complete idiot," she said.

He wrapped one arm around her waist, anchoring her to him and used the other to push back the curls that had fallen out of her ponytail so he could speak directly into her ear. "No, I don't."

"Terry?"

"Yes."

She turned in his arms and pressed her face against his shirt. He closed a hand around the back of her head. "You can cry, you know."

She shook her head against his chest. "I'm too fucking mad to cry."

"Just say the word and I'll let the guys have him."

She leaned back far enough to look up at him. Her eyes were dark, her cheeks were pink. "Hell, no. I'll do that on my own. I'm just so fucking_ mad_! I want to kick something or, or do...something." She trailed off, staring at his mouth with a startling intensity. The embrace in which he was holding her changed from comforting to sexual in a split second, the air around them crackling with sudden energy.

He tried to move slowly, to give her time to change her mind, but she lifted her head to meet his lips. Her hungry response drew an immediate reaction from his body. His tongue probed into her mouth, tasting her. She tasted sweet, just like she always did.

He rested his forehead against hers and smoothed his hands over her hair. She was staring up at him, her blue eyes darker than normal, pain and desire swirling in their depths until all he wanted to do lose himself in her.

"Don't go there," he said softly.

The tip of her pink tongue darted out to moisten her lips. He groaned. Somehow, she wiggled her way closer to his body, her hands pressed over his thundering heart, until they were touching from knee to chest.

"You're right," she said, her voice husky. "This wouldn't be fair to you."

"Fuck fair. I'm more worried about you." He had kept a very careful distance from Stephanie, emotionally, for both their sakes. This time it was even more necessary. She was vulnerable, she was in his arms, but still, he wasn't a big enough bastard to take advantage of her.

Though if he'd had anything more than mere momentary snatches of sleep over the past three days, his resolve would have been easier to keep.

Her lips brushed against his collarbone. "I won't regret it."

"Yes, you will." He stroked a hand over her back and kept repeating that in his head. She would regret it. Only a complete asshole would touch her right now.

A soft sigh escaped her as her fingers rose to touch his jaw. They carefully traced over the stubble and came to rest on the side of his neck. Under her fingertips, his pulse was pounding from the exertion required simply to hang on to his control.

She stood up on her toes, her entire body rubbing against his as she did, and brushed her lips across the other side of his jaw. He could feel her breath on his cheek as she spoke. "How could I ever regret you?"

His arms tightened around her, and he stared into her eyes, trying to judge her. They shimmered with tears she refused to cry in front of him, but there was no fear. No hesitation.

If he'd had sleep, he still could have walked away.

But as it was, the idea of Steph ready, willing, was too tempting. He grabbed her ass with both hands and hauled her closer, lifting her toes off the ground. She was so willing. This time it was her who deepened the kiss, her tongue that was exploring and tasting. Her nails sunk into his shoulders as she ground her hips against him.

He turned around, setting her on the edge of the dining room table. Her legs came up around her waist, pulling them even closer together. He met her lips again, the desire between them spreading, heating. One hand dropped to her breast, his thumb finding her pebbled nipple even through the thick sweater. She moaned and arched her back. The movement gave just enough room between for him to slip his hand down the front of her sweat pants. First brushing his fingers over her, he pushed inside. She was hot and wet. She was his.

Unable to stand it for another second, he stood upright, lifting her with him, and walked toward the bedroom. She yanked at his shirt as he walked. Her breathing was heavy as her clumsy fingers worked it out and then tried to undo his belt buckle. He tossed her onto the bed and wasted only a second getting his belt the rest of the way unfastened and his cargo pants unzipped. He grabbed the bottom of her sweat pants and yanked them off. Then he fell on top of her on the bed, reaching between them to tear off her panties in one smooth rip.

One last second of clarity reigned. "Are you sure?" he said, studying her, looking for any sign that she had changed her mind. There was none.

"I'm sure."

"Do I need a condom?"

A quick, negative shake of her head. Her breath was coming in choppy pants. "Pill."

He couldn't wait any longer. It'd been too long since he'd held her body beneath his, since he'd felt her. She winced when he pushed inside her. He paused, studying her face, and started to pull back when she whimpered and pulled him tighter. "No, stay," she whispered.

He pushed the rest of the way. Her inner muscles clamped down, making him groan aloud. He stilled and pushed her sweater over her head. Lifting her up, he pulled it off and laid her back down. She wasn't wearing a bra and his eyes were instantly drawn to her tightened nipples. He leaned down and gently flicked his tongue over one, making her gasp and arch her back. He waited until she relaxed before repeating the gesture on the other side. This time she moaned and tried to angle her hips. But he remained still, pinning her to the bed.

Her nails sunk further into his back. "Move," she said, arching her back up.

"Like this?" He pulled out, just a fraction of an inch before pushing back in, hard, until he was as far as he could go.

She groaned as her head fell back on the mattress. "Do it again."

"Look at me," he said, waiting for her to open her eyes. He wanted to make damn sure that she knew it was him, and not the cop, that was inside of her. And he'd keep fucking her until her face no longer bore that expression that said she deserved what Morelli was doing to her.

She held his eyes as he sped up, hers darkening and her breath coming faster as he pushed her closer and closer to the edge. And then he pushed her over, her head falling back and his name on her lips. He followed a second later and let his body sink down over hers.

While they waited for their heartbeats to return to normal, she sifted her fingers through his hair which had come loose. It slipped through her fingers and she rubbed the back of his neck. Her lips were moving across his collar bone.

When he lifted himself off of her, she made a sound of protest and tightened her grip on his shoulders. Smiling, he pressed a kiss to her temple. "One second, babe."

He sat up on the edge of the bed and unlaced his boots. He toed them off and shucked the cargo pants before laying back down beside her. Pulling the covers over both of them, he tucked her naked body tightly against his own. She sighed and sank into him, resting her arm over the one he had around her waist.

…

Steph concentrated on Ranger's fingers. They were lazy, slipping over the curve of her belly, down toward her hip, across her abdomen. They were feather soft, only the barest brushes with his finger tips. Up, down, over, back up...

But even though she was using all her concentration on that, rather than on what had just happened, her eyes still filled with tears. She blinked furiously, trying to clear them before he noticed. How stupid could she be? Ranger tells her Joe's cheating on her so she jumps him? She knew Ranger's stance on relationships, and she had fallen into bed with him anyway. Not just fallen - she had borderline begged him.

He was going to walk away in the morning, and she didn't know if her heart could handle it. In the span of an hour, both relationships might have just been ruined. Her and Joe's because he was a cheating bastard and her and Ranger's because she was a blithering idiot.

She could handle no longer have Joe in her life; she couldn't handle losing Ranger.

She sniffed before she could stop herself. Ranger's fingers froze in place. He removed his arm from around her and for a terrifying second she thought he was leaving. But he only reached up and pulled her hair aside. He pressed a kiss to the back of her neck, and then moved to kiss her cheek.

"Are you okay," he said softly.

She blinked back the rest of her tears and made sure her voice wouldn't crack before answering. "Yeah, I'm fine."

He lifted himself up onto an elbow and peered over her head. She started to shift away from him, but using his other arm, he pulled her closer. "Steph."

When she still didn't answer, he pushed on her shoulder, brining her over onto her back. Leaning down he kissed her, a soft touch of his tongue sliding across the seam of her lips. He rested his forehead against hers. "Still angry?"

She breathed a quick, inward sigh of relief and smiled at him. Joe was a much safer topic than what had happened between them. Or what was going to happen next. "I think I've burned off most of the anger. I'll come up with an appropriate revenge tomorrow."

"You have a lot of people willing to lend a hand."

She smiled at that. "If I wasn't terrified you guys would kill him, I'd take you up on that."

He grinned. "We can control ourselves." He leaned down and brushed a light kiss across her lips. His fingers moved over her ribs.

"Are you staying?" she said.

He raised an eyebrow and a hint of a wolf grin tilted his lips. "You're naked. Where on earth would I go?"

…

Steph woke up alone. She sat up, saw that the bedroom was empty, and flung herself back against the covers, disappointed, but not overly surprised. Glancing at the clock, her eyes opened wide - it was past eleven. But then again, she probably needed the sleep. Ranger hadn't let her sleep much during the night, and she was sore in enough places to prove it.

Coffee. That's what she needed. Emotionally and physically, she had been through a fucking ringer the night before, and she couldn't cope with any of it until she had coffee. She leaned over the edge of the bed and saw his black t-shirt. Not even thinking about why it was still there, she pulled it over her head and padded out of the bedroom.

She came to a fast stop, almost tripping over her own feet, when she was confronted with Ranger sitting on her couch. He was shirtless, and clicking away on a laptop. Their eyes held over the top of the screen and the moment stretched between them. She hesitated, unsure how to proceed. He looked serious. Much too serious for a man who had spent most of the night in the positions they had been in. But then his lips lifted in a small, intimate smile and her heart flipped over in her chest.

He glanced back down at the screen of his computer and the moment was broken. She blinked and shook herself out of her trance. Following her nose, she found a fresh pot of coffee and bakery bag.

She poured a cup, grabbed a boston creme and plopped down on the other end of the couch from him. She curled her legs under her and tugged his t-shirt over her knees.

"Morning, babe."

"Mmm."

He smiled at her before turning back to the computer.

"It's late. Why are you still here?"

He hesitated before saying, "I didn't want to wake you."

What he didn't say aloud, she realized, was that he also didn't want her to wake up alone. "Thanks."

"Do we need to talk about it?" he said after a minute.

She waved a hand in what she prayed was a casual gesture. "Don't worry. I know the drill."

He studied her a moment, his eyes intense. She turned away and fixed her attention on her coffee cup, trying not to let him see how badly she wanted him to deny it, to say no, this time was different.

"I should get to work," was all he said.

"Yeah, me too."

He stood up, and grabbed his jacket off the back of a chair.

"Do you want your shirt?" she said with a smile. Though it was a shame to cover that perfect chest.

"Keep it - it looks cute on you. I'll zip up the jacket. No one will notice." He patted the pockets and froze, staring at her.

"What?"

With an apologetic look on his face, he pulled a manila envelope out of his pocket. "Evidence. It's yours if you want it, or I can shred it. Either way, Lester and I are the only ones who have seen it."

Her fingers inched toward the envelope. She took it and sat frozen on the couch, staring at it, barely noticing when he stepped out the door. Finally, unable to resist, she tilted the envelope to the side. The pictures shook out easily, landing face up on the coffee table.

Pain seared through her chest as she stared at the photos. But the pain was quickly replaced by a burning anger. She didn't know what it was about her that made men think they could cheat on her, but she wasn't about to let Joe get away with it any more than she had let Dickie get away with it.

Then again, she had slept with Ranger last night, so maybe they should just call it a wash and end it. But it didn't escape her that had Ranger simply shown up, without this piece of information, she never would have landed in bed with him.

She sat back on the couch and tried to decide about her next course of action. In the span of 12 hours, she had found out that Joe was cheating on her, and had watched Ranger walk away. Again. For split second, though she would never admit it aloud, she entertained the thought of just shredding the envelope. Pretend she had never seen the pictures and just plow ahead. But she dismissed the thought - she had too much self-respect to stay with Joe after this.

She stood and took a deep breath, rubbed her clammy hands over her jeans, and grabbed the envelope, her keys and her purse. She let out another breath, trying to gather her courage, before walking to the door.

…

_Let me know what you think!_


	3. Chapter 2

_Rating for language and smut, I don't own them, will return them, etc._

…

She parked her car in Joe's driveway. It was after six - she had procrastinated and decided to wait until he was off work instead of doing this at the PD. Now he was inside, waiting for her. She dropped her house key onto the table inside the front door when she walked in. It wouldn't be used again - at least, not by her. The envelope of pictures felt heavy in her hand.

Strains of a hockey game were coming form the living room, so she headed in that direction. Joe was sitting on the couch, with Bob beside him, greedily licking Joe's hand.

He turned and caught sight of her. "Hey, Cupcake. Wanna beer?"

She didn't respond, but walked toward him. "How was your night?" she said. Some of the pictures had been from earlier the night before, some older.

"It was okay," Joe said. "I missed you."

"Really?"

"How was your night?" he said, missing her sarcasm.

The thought crossed her mind to pull her hair aside so he could see a string of bite marks, but she dismissed it as juvenile. Suddenly, she was exhausted. There had been so many fights with Joe over the years that she just didn't have the energy to do so again. And somewhere around the time Ranger had walked out of her apartment, she had stopped thinking about revenge.

"It was fine," she said. She walked upstairs and into the bedroom - a half-full laundry basket sat beside a chair. She grabbed the few clothes articles that were in his drawers and everything she had in the bathroom and dropped them into the basket. The basket she set at the top of the stairs, and then she did a quick check for anything she had forgotten. This would be the last time she was in these rooms, but as she glanced around, she couldn't find an ounce of regret for that fact.

The questions and doubts swirling through her brain - more about Ranger than Joe - were muddling her mind and her decisions. Why did she do it? What would happen next? What the hell had she been thinking? And on and on they went. The energy she could usually muster for a good screaming match with Joe was dedicated to analyzing every word Ranger had said that morning and trying to assign it a new meaning.

Carrying the basket, she made it down the steps, through the living room, and to the front door before Joe noticed. Her face flushed in anticipation and she took a deep breath, trying to prepare for a confrontation she knew was unavoidable.

"Going to your mom's?" he said. "I have some laundry too if you want to take it with you."

"No, I'm going home." She said it as evenly as possible. Her fingers were trembling and her heart was pounding. Just let me escape, she thought. Let's just be done with this whole charade.

"Home? What the--"

The pictures were on top of the laundry basket. She simply handed the envelope to him and walked out the door. As she closed it behind her, she could hear muffled cursing from inside, and then the sound of something shattering. Still walking sedately, she loaded the laundry basket in the back seat.

"Stephanie," Joe yelled, rushing down the sidewalk toward her.

Without responding, she opened the driver's side door.

"Wait!"

She was halfway in the car when he reached her. His hand closed around her upper arm and hauled her back out of the car. "Steph, come on. Let's talk about this."

His hold wasn't painful, but it was secure. She tried to yank her arm free, but couldn't. "Let go of me." She pulled again, but to no avail.

"Just listen--"

"No! There's nothing left for us to say to each other, Joe. It's over. We're done. Move on."

"Come on, Steph," he said, "Don't leave it like this. Come back inside and let's talk."

"Talk about what? How you fucked Terry? I don't need details, Joe. The pictures were bad enough. You swore there was nothing going on."

"Yeah, like there was nothing going on between you and Ranger? I'm not dumb, Stephanie."

"And I'm not going to stay with someone who cheats on me!"

Joe sighed and ran his hands through hair. She absently noted that it needed a cut before she remembered that it didn't matter anymore what she thought.

"It's not what it looked like," he said. "We were working. I didn't--"

"You didn't fuck her? Because you were definitely fucking her in the pictures I saw."

"And you think pictures can't be doctored? Think Stephanie!"

She rolled her eyes. "Ranger did not doctor those pictures."

Joe gave a harsh, guttural laugh. "Oh, that's rich. I see what happened. He showed up with an envelope of pictures and said 'bad news, _babe_, but Joe's fucking Terry. Let me comfort you'."

She crossed her arms over her chest - her toe was tapping on the ground - and gave him a smug smile. "Bad news, _Cupcake_. Ranger didn't take the pictures."

His face blanched. "Then who did?"

"Does it matter? It's over Joe. We both know it. Just let it go."

He grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him. "Steph, don't--"

"Let her go."

They both flipped around to see that Ranger had materialized in the driveway and was standing a foot away. His eyes were cold and black and terrifying. They were focused entirely on Joe.

Joe's face turned a bit red, but he un-flexed his fingers from around her arm and took a step backward.

Steph scowled at Ranger. "He wasn't hurting me. I have this under control." She glanced around, finally noticing the pile of neighbors who had come outside to watch. "Did you follow me?" she said to him, under her breath.

"Police scanner."

"Christ," Joe said.

Steph rolled her eyes and turned back to Joe. "The pictures were not doctored, Joe. Are you seriously going to keep lying to me and tell me that you're not sleeping with her?"

Joe scrubbed his hands over his face before he spoke - his voice was calm now, his eyes pleading with her. "I'm not lying. Are you really going to take his word over mine?"

She cringed, guilt swamping her at her instinctive answer to that question. But there was a simple truth at play here. Ranger had never lied to her; Joe had never stopped.

Both men were staring at her, waiting for her answer, and clearly neither was happy with the speed at which her answer was coming. Joe was obviously angry - red face, tight fists at his side, the vein in his neck straining. Ranger looked calm, but she could feel the tension radiating off of him. Great.

She turned back to Joe. "Yeah, I'm trusting him over you. We're done." Without glancing around at all the neighbors who had come outside to watch, or at Ranger who she knew was still staring her down, she climbed in her car and drove off. A moment later, a black Ford pickup appeared in her rear-view mirror.

He stopped beside her when they reached her parking lot and climbed out of the truck. She watched him walk toward her car, all hard angles and cocky male swagger. She had a sudden image of him dropping his palms onto .45's at his hip and drawling 'y'all right ma'am?' just like John Wayne.

Instead, his palm dropped onto the top of the car with a heavy thud and he leaned down so that they were eye to eye through the glass window. His face didn't give away his tension, but the usual warmth in his expression when he looked at her was gone, making his eyes harder, the lines of his face sharper. He didn't look upset - it was more that he didn't look anything at all.

With a deep breath, she opened the door. He pulled it towards him, so that when she stood, the car door was between them.

"Don't start" she said before he could say anything.

"I didn't doctor those pictures," he said. His voice was toneless too.

"I know that! I didn't think for a second that you had. Besides, if you had really wanted me in bed you wouldn't have had to fake pictures to do it." She realized what she had just said when the look on Ranger's face softened into a predatory smile and the set of his shoulders relaxed. She gave herself a mental smack to the forehead.

"If I remember right," he said, his voice low, "You jumped me."

She could feel her cheeks heating up. "I was under duress." She ignored his low chuckle and closed her eyes against the feel of his fingers coming up and brushing her cheek.

"Regrets?" he said, his voice infinitely tender.

"No." And it was true. It had been a mistake. A huge mistake. A whopper. The little voice in her head saying that this wasn't the first time she'd made this colossal of a mistake didn't really help anything. Still, she couldn't bring herself to regret it.

But she also couldn't look up at him. If she did, she would be lost in those dark eyes. Whether she wanted to be or not, she was the kind of woman who valued commitment, and she wouldn't settle for less. Not even for Ranger.

He didn't want her, she knew that; still, she had slept with him again. And all it had managed to accomplish was cementing in her heart just how much she loved him - and that they would never be together. She kept her eyes averted, hoping he wouldn't be able to read her misery, or how badly her heart ached. God she wanted him. But then she'd be even more of an idiot than she was now. His hand came up to cup her cheek. Forcibly, she stopped herself from leaning into his touch.

She inched her eyes upward until they met his. He was staring at her with an intense, but unreadable, expression. His fingers were resting lightly against her jaw. "I'll walk you up," he said.

She took a quick step backward and hoped her voice wasn't shaking as badly as the rest of her. "No, that's okay. No stalkers. I'm fine."

His lips looked like they were thinking about tilting upward. He closed the distance she had put between them and touched her cheek again. "You sure?"

She knew what he was asking. His expression, his posture, all of it spoke of man ready to devour the woman in front of him. But she had no intention of letting that happen again, no matter how good he was at it, or how he made her feel. She dropped her eyes. "I'm sure," she mumbled, and she took off toward her apartment and safety.

…

Ranger watched her duck away before walking back to his car. As much as he would have loved to follow her upstairs and lose himself in that perfect body, it was just as well that she said no. Better.

Over the years, the memory of their one night together had faded. The way she tasted, the scent of her skin, the way her body moved beneath his - the individual tantalizing pieces had congealed into a warm memory.

But now, he had touched her again. Every feel, every taste, every movement had now been etched back onto his mind like a brand, and he wondered if he'd be able to erase it quite so easily this time around. Probably, he should have never touched her.

Probably, the fact that he couldn't shake her, couldn't erase her from his memory as he'd been able to do with so many other faceless women over the years, meant that loved her, but he was still trying to deny it. Normally, he demanded honesty, from the men around him and most of all from himself. But in this one instance, he could do denial almost as good as Steph.

He started the car, and with only a glance up at her window, he drove away.

He didn't like how much he wanted her. It was bordering on needing her. That would be unacceptable. He needed to go to Miami soon - do some clean up work at that office. Maybe now would be as good a time as any. Give them both some separation from this newest change to the nature of their relationship. Give them both a chance to regroup. To forget.

He kept telling himself that was possible.

…

Weeks later, Steph was sitting on the couch in the bond's office when he walked in. Her heart flipped over in her chest and her breath snagged.

"Babe," he said, giving her an easy smile. A smile that said her world hadn't just been tumbled on its end.

It had been three weeks since 'that night,' as she had taken to calling it. One week since she had found out she was pregnant. "Hey," she said.

She watched as he went through his normal routine. He stuck his head in Vinnie's office and told him he was back, he asked Connie for his files. The whole time she was watching him, waiting for him to turn to her and notice everything that had changed since he left.

"I want to talk to you," he said to her. He motioned toward the door with his head. "Outside."

Her stomach in her throat, she followed him. He tugged her into the shadows in the alley and ran a hand through her hair, tucking the strands behind her ear. An easy smile graced his lips. "Babe. How are you?"

She stared up at him. "Fine. How are you?" _Coward_! a voice in her head yelled. But what was she going to do - tell him? It was too new; it was her secret. She'd tell him later.

"Good," he said.

She thought for a second that he was going to kiss her, but he didn't. He took a step back and dropped his hand from her hair.

"How long are you back in town?"

"For a while. I've been at the Miami office. I need to keep going back and forth between the two for a while. Get some things straightened out."

She nodded. That would make it easier to keep her secret. But she couldn't do apprehensions while she was pregnant. Even she didn't consider herself that invincible. "Um, I was wondering if maybe I could come work for RangeMan again."

He raised an eyebrow. "Research or field work?"

"Research." She laughed and hoped it didn't sound as awkward as it felt. "I don't think I'm cut out for field work with you guys."

"Bounty hunting slow?"

She nodded.

"When did you want to start?"

"Um, tomorrow?"

He stared at her for another minute. "Sure. You know the hours and the uniform."

"Thanks," she said, almost sagging in relief. She knew she should tell him, but she couldn't bring herself to do it yet. When he had left, three weeks ago, she had shuffled around under a cloud. She hadn't known where he had gone or why or if he was coming back.

Stories of Joe's infidelity had circulated, yet she didn't have the energy to seek revenge; her mother bemoaned her state as a spinster; and her job had been enough to make her feel like she was standing on a ledge and staring at the bottom. Daily, she calculated the distance she would have to fall before finding freedom.

But then she had found out she was pregnant. She rested a hand on her belly without even realizing she was doing it. The terror she had expected. The instant joy had been a surprise. Her own response was so new, so fragile, that she couldn't handle dealing with Ranger's response as well.

"You sure you're okay, babe?" he said.

Her eyes snapped back to his face and she dropped her hand from her stomach. "Yeah. I'm fine."

"I'll see you in the morning?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Thanks."

…

Ranger got Steph settled at her desk before walking back to his office. He glanced at her again via the monitor on his desk. Something was up with her, but he had no idea what. He stopped himself from going over there and demanding that she tell him.

He had spent three weeks trying to escape her memory.

It hadn't worked.

Tank stuck his head in the door. "You still want in on the Michael's take down?"

"No. I need to head back to Miami."

Tank raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were staying until the end of the week."

Ranger glanced back at Steph's image in the monitor. She was chewing on her bottom lip and tapping her nails on the desk. "Turns out I need to go sooner," he said. He couldn't stay. She was his one weakness, and three weeks away hadn't exorcised her from his mind. For both their sakes, he needed to stay as far away from Stephanie Plum as he could, until he could get his desire for her back under control. His last thought as he walked out of the Trenton office was that he never should have touched her.

…

Please please review! If there's not many reviews, I start thinking that the whole thing sucks, so then I start making all these changes, and that just slows down how fast the next chapter comes…. So if you like it, let me know! Thanks for reading :)


	4. Chapter 3

_So this chapter introduces "Angry Ranger." He's going to be spending quite a bit of time with us. There are probably some people who won't be in love with this Ranger, but like I said, if you stick with me I think his motivations and actions will all make sense. And I hope by the end that you'll love him even more. _

_Don't own them, make no profit, will return them. Rating for language and smut._

_Thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter! If I didn't get you personally, know that I appreciate your time reading this!_

…

Steph turned sideways in her bathroom and lifted her shirt. Already, the outline of her growing belly could be seen, even though she was only four months along. She poked at her belly, smiling at the hardness she could feel.

She had decided pretty quickly that she was not one of those women who gloried in being pregnant. She didn't have that pregnant-woman glow, either, and had pretty much decided that that was just a ploy some women used to feel superior.

It was going to be almost impossible to keep it a secret much longer, she realized. The only person who knew was Mary Lou, and that was only because she had to have _somebody_ to freak out with in the beginning. Mary Lou had been a godsend, driving her to Newark to a doctor there, helping her figure out how to cope with the morning sickness, adding an elastic waist to her cargo pants.

Speaking of cargo pants, she tried again to snap the top button, but even with the elastic, it wasn't going to happen. She wandered into her bedroom and found a huge RangeMan hooded sweatshirt and pulled that on. Hopefully no one would notice that the pants were unbuttoned. Of course, it was July and a hundred degrees outside, which made the sweatshirt an odd choice, but she could fib her way out of that one.

Ranger still didn't know. The little amount of time he was in Trenton, they had managed to restore the easy interaction of their friendship. It wasn't the same, though, since 'that night.' But she had hesitated to destroy even the semblance of intimacy between them.

She no longer had that option. Though she had no idea what his reaction was going to be. She doubted it would be good. But it didn't matter.

"We'll do just fine without a man, won't we little girl," she said to her belly as she finished getting dressed. She had taken to talking to her belly a lot. It was too early, of course, for the doctor to confirm the sex of the baby, but she knew it was a girl.

And now she was going to have to work up the nerve to tell this little girl's father.

…

Steph dropped her purse into the drawer of her desk and settled in at her cubicle. A stack of searches was in her in-box, all from Rodriguez. She rolled her eyes and grabbed the first to get started. Some days she hated this job, but most of the time she loved it. It was certainly better than bounty hunting, though she did miss the excitement and the freedom. Here, she was under Ranger's control.

A hush fell over the control room. Speak of the devil. A moment later, she felt his presence behind her. Glancing behind her, she gave him a quick finger wave.

"Babe. How was your weekend?"

"Good." She and Mary Lou had gone to Philly and stocked up on maternity clothes. "Went shopping."

His lips tilted up.

"How was your weekend?" she said.

"Miami."

She rolled her eyes and motioned with her hand for him to continue. "Did you see Julie?"

He sat down in the guest chair beside her desk and stretched his legs outward. "Yeah. She's getting lippy. Rachel says it's because she's almost a teenager."

She grinned. Poor guy had no idea how to handle that. "Is she glad to have you down there so much?"

"I think so. I've been getting a lot of sullen looks and shrugs, but she shows up at the office after school most days that I'm down there."

"Then she likes having you there," she said. Though Steph wasn't nearly as thrilled as Julie. He was spending more and more of his time in Miami and she was terrified that one day he would walk in and announce that he wasn't coming back.

He stood up. "Speaking of which, I'm going back down tomorrow morning, and will probably be gone for a couple weeks."

Which meant she could chicken out again and tell him when he got back, or she could do it tonight and buy herself a few weeks before she had to face him.

"I don't have to work tonight," he said. "Want to stick around and have dinner with me?"

She took a deep breath. "Sure."

…

Steph stepped off the elevator on the seventh floor right at six o'clock. She had run home and changed into a pair of looser pants - even the unsnapped cargo pants had become uncomfortable as the day wore on. She paired it with a loose shirt and hoped Ranger wouldn't notice her belly.

Ella was waiting for the elevator with an empty tray in her hands. "Hello, dear," she said as soon as the doors opened. "I just dropped off dinner, but Ranger is still in the shower."

"Okay. Um Ella," she paused trying to work up the courage to do this. The reminder of how tight those damn cargo pants were convinced her. "If I bring you some new black shirts and cargo pants, can you embroider them so they pass as the uniform?"

Ella cocked her head to the side and scanned up and down Steph's body. Steph could feel her cheeks heating up, and mentally groaned when Ella jerked straight up and her face split with a wide grin. Ella leaned closer and spoke in a conspiratorial whisper. "How far along are you?"

Steph blew out a sigh. "Four months, and those cargo pants aren't going to last long at all."

Ella reached over and gave her a quick hug. "Oh I'm so excited for you! I'll get some maternity pants ordered and some nice baggy shirts and have them for you in no time."

"Thanks."

Ella patted her on the hand and got into the elevator. Steph took a deep breath. One down, one to go. Unfortunately, Ella didn't really count. She rested her hand on her belly, partly for courage and partly to try to calm herself, and stepped through the door.

Ranger was walking out of the bedroom, rubbing his damp hair with a towel. His eyes zeroed in on the way her hand was protectively curled under the bulge in her stomach. Steph held her breath as he slowly looked up at her.

Now or never. She blurted it out: "I'm pregnant."

Not a single muscle in his body moved. The towel in his hand was frozen in place against his head. For once his face, instead of being blank, had hardened into an angry, accusatory stare.

Steph gulped. Fear sliced through her, leaving pinpricks of sensation behind. This was just Ranger, she reminded herself. He would never hurt her.

The towel dropped from his fingers and he walked toward her, until he was looming above her. Her stomach did a somersault. She'd seen him take that same stance with skips for years. "What did you say?" he said, his voice deceptively soft and calm.

She tried to take a deep enough breath to answer, but couldn't draw in air past whatever was lodged in her throat. Her heart was pounding so hard her teeth were almost chattering. She clamped her jaw shut but had no control over the way her hands were shaking.

"I'm, um, I'm pregnant," she said, so softly the words were almost inaudible, even to herself.

Anger immediately hardened his expression further, which she hadn't thought was even possible. She tried to breathe, but every breath was getting more and more shallow, more difficult to take.

"You said you were on the pill."

"I was! It's not foolproof."

He took a step back, like he had just noticed how terrified she was, and his face slipped back into a blank mask. "Fine."

Her eyes widened. "Fine? Fine? What the hell does that mean?"

"It means, Stephanie," he said, enunciating every word, "that we'll get married and you'll have a baby."

Her already dangerously high heartbeat ratcheted up another notch. She stared at him, and knew with a sinking feeling in her stomach that he meant exactly what he said, and had no intention of budging. Her head was suddenly fuzzy and she blinked rapidly at him. "And after the baby's born," she said, trailing off in fear of what his next words were going to be.

"Then we'll undo it. Do I need to spell it out?"

Her eyes filled with tears but she turned away before he could see them. "Fine." She meant to simply leave, not being able to stomach his reaction, but his hand shot out and grabbed her upper arm.

"We're not done here." Though anger still emanated from him, his words were calm and toneless. He pulled her toward him and placed a hand against her stomach, his eyes widening when he realized how hard and distended it already was. "Why did you wait so long to say anything? That was months ago."

"I didn't have the nerve," she said quietly.

"It's too late to..." he trailed off.

She jerked her arm out of his grasp. "It wouldn't have mattered. And you can't be mad at me. I didn't do this."

"Did you miss any pills?"

"No! I've been taking the damn things for fifteen years. I'm pretty sure I know how to use them."

"How do you know it's mine?"

"The timing's right."

"You've got to do better than that." Still that damn toneless voice that gave away nothing.

She huffed out a sigh. "Do you want details?"

"Yes."

She crossed her arms, hesitant to explain something so personal.

"It's a little late to be shy, Stephanie."

She rolled her eyes. "I hadn't slept with Joe since I'd had my last period. I certainly didn't sleep with him after we, uh, after you showed me the pictures. So there was only that one night when it was possible."

"Why weren't you sleeping with Joe before?"

She waved a hand. "Schedules didn't line up, I was annoyed with him, he was apparently fucking Terry - pick a reason." She stepped away from him, towards the door again. "I'm going home." She opened it, but he reached above her and slammed it shut.

"I don't think so."

She turned around and glared at him. "What are you going to do? Lock me in here?"

"No," he said, like it was the most logical thing in the world. "You're going to stay here tonight, and tomorrow morning before I leave, we're going to the courthouse."

She gave him a pissy look. "There's a three day waiting period."

"Then you'll go with me to Miami and we'll do it there." He turned and walked toward the dining room.

She chased after him. "You can't just decide everything, Ranger. I get a say in this too. And I'm not going to Miami. I have to work."

He sat down at the table and started piling food onto his plate. "You can work from that office. Eat."

"I'm not hungry."

He stopped and looked up at her. "Sit down, Stephanie. And eat."

She held his gaze for a minute before finally caving. She sank into one of the chairs and dropped a small serving of rice onto her plate, purposely letting the spoon bang against the plate. She grabbed the smallest piece of chicken and flung that down on her plate too, not caring how childish her actions were.

Ignoring her, he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and pushed a speed dial button. "Book Stephanie a seat on the same flight tomorrow. Return Thursday."

"Wednesday," she muttered under her breath. It was Monday now - if they were getting married on Tuesday, hell, she could come back Tuesday night. There was no way she was staying an extra day.

He stared at her with that damn blank expression. His voice was low and cold. "Don't you want a honeymoon?"

She dropped back in her chair and flipped him off. His expression relaxed and the corners of his mouth tilted up. He spoke back into the phone. "And give Silvio a heads up so he can have some work ready for her."

She went back to eating - after all it was Ella's food and it was amazing - and ignored the rest of his conversation. He made one more call - this one in Spanish - before eating himself. As she finished her meal, the enormity of his words finally sank in. He expected them to actually fly to Miami and get married. It had crossed her mind that this would be his reaction - he had married Rachel, after all - but she hadn't seriously considered it. Of course, there had been the quick, fleeting thought that he'd be thrilled and tell her how much he loved her, but she hadn't let herself dwell on that.

His anger, though, she hadn't expected at all. She had always assumed that there was a temper somewhere under there that he kept tightly controlled, but she hadn't seen it before now. She shuddered to think that she might have only glimpsed the tip of the iceberg.

He finished before she did and carried his plate and cup into the kitchen. She listened absently to the sound of the running water, and then the dishwasher opening and closing. She'd give him some time to cool down, and then work on this marriage issue. No way in hell was she going through with that.

"I'll be in the gym," Ranger said as he walked past. "I'll be back in an hour. Don't go anywhere."

"What am I supposed to do for an hour?" she yelled after him. But the only reply was the sound of the door slamming shut.

…

_In the next chapter (I'll post tomorrow) we'll see what's going through Ranger's head right now. Don't give up yet!_


	5. Chapter 4

_I don't own them, make no profit, etc….rating for language and smut_

_Thanks for all the reviews!_

…

Ranger pummeled the punching bag, letting all the anger and energy pour out of him. "A fucking kid," he mumbled to himself, his fist making contact with the punching bag. And what were the chances. It all came back to those cursed pictures. If he hadn't shown Steph, she would have slept with Morelli instead of him, and it'd be Morelli's kid she was pregnant with and Morelli she was marrying...

He stopped abruptly. The punching bag, at the sudden loss of momentum, came flying back and struck him square in the chest.

He took a quick step back with an "umph" and reached out to steady the bag.

The sudden swamp of jealousy he felt only angered him even more. His fists shot out toward the bag again, connecting with a steady whap as his rhythm picked up momentum. The gym was silent, except for that sound.

What the fuck did he care if she was with Morelli? She could be with whomever she wanted, as long as it wasn't him. He'd told her since the beginning that he didn't want a relationship with her, and he'd meant every word. He still didn't.

He lunged for the bag, harder this time, his dark thoughts doing nothing to alleviate his frustration. The knuckle on his left hand split open - he could feel it, though the red leather exterior disguised any smears of blood - but still, he kept going. Kept pounding it, even though the sound of his ragged breathing was getting harsher in the silence.

His interactions with Steph over the past few months had been limited, and carefully devoid of any sexual tension. While she still crossed his mind with disturbing regularity, he'd been confident that he had gotten control over his desire for her.

Not even close.

The door to the gym burst open - the metal crashing against the cinder block wall. Ranger took a quick step back and caught the bag as it swung. Tank walked toward him.

"Problem?"

Tank studied him a second before answering. "Fargo just showed at McAllister's bar downtown."

With no conscious effort on his part, objectivity descended, shrouding his emotions. His eyesight sharpened, his heartbeat dropped, his breathing evened out. "Get four two-men teams. Fargo is a runner, so position two teams in the bar, one on State behind McAllister's and one on the corner of Hamilton and Grey. Pin him in."

Tank nodded. "You want Junior on State Street?"

"Yes. Make sure Lester's in the car on Hamilton."

Tank hesitated before leaving. He glanced at Ranger's hands. "Everything okay?"

"Just get the job done," he said. Though it could have applied to either of them.

…

Ranger turned the elevator back on and rode up to the seventh floor. He hadn't thought Steph would leave, but he knew she wouldn't walk down seven flights of stairs to do so. He let himself into the apartment. The TV was on, and she was staring blankly at it. She didn't look up at him. He walked over and sat down beside her on the couch.

"I handled that badly," he said.

An astonished sound escaped her. "You think?"

An awkward silence descended.

"You can't be mad at me over this," she said.

"I know."

She turned to him with a disbelieving stare.

"I'm trying, Steph," he said.

They sat in silence for a moment, both staring at whatever was flashing across the TV screen. He had no idea what was on, and doubted that she did either.

"I'm not asking you for anything, Ranger. I just told you because it was the right thing to do. I'm not asking you to do anything with the information."

For a split second, he wished it were that simple. That he could walk away - just write her a check and say 'good riddance.' Maybe then he could stop thinking that this spelled destruction for both of them. But of course, he couldn't. "It's still my responsibility. You've been to the doctor, right?"

She rolled her eyes. "Of course I've been. I'm not dumb. Everything's fine, the baby's fine, I'm fine."

"Morning sickness?"

"It's gone now."

He nodded but didn't say anything else. He didn't know what else there was to say. A baby - just the thought still shocked him. His hands flexed, tightening into fists. He fought to keep his anger at bay, to hold on to the objectivity he had found in the gym. Christ, he hadn't had to work this hard to stay in control in fifteen years.

But he wasn't angry with her, and it wasn't fair to take it out on her. The only thing she had done wrong was to get caught up in his inability to control himself.

"We're not really getting married, are we?" she said. "Because I'm not okay with that."

"Get over it."

She jumped off the couch. He stared at her, but didn't move. "I'm not marrying you, Ranger. It's fucking 2008 - who gets married over a baby?"

He didn't reply.

She stomped her foot. "I mean it. I'm not marrying you. You have to have consent in this country to get married, and I'm not doing it. I'll scream bloody murder the whole time."

He regulated his breathing and kept his voice impassive. "There's a judge in Miami who owes me a favor. I'm sure he can ignore your screams for help."

Her mouth dropped open and she stared at him.

"Do you have an actual objection?"

"Yes, I have an objection! I don't want to get married - that's my objection! I don't want to get divorced again and I don't want to be bullied into a sham of a marriage."

He pulled on her arm so she landed on the couch beside him. He focused on the logic, keeping his voice calm and toneless. "It'll set up legal precedent for paternity, allow custody and child support to be decided quicker, prevent any problems with the baby's last name, and make baptism go smoother. Not to mention that it will be demanded by both families, and will keep both you and this child out of the line of fire with the town gossip."

She seemed to almost deflate beside him, all the fight draining out of her. She sighed and leaned back on the couch cushion. "I didn't think of all that."

"It needs to be done, Steph," he said.

She blinked furiously, like she was a second away from tearing up. He clamped down on the tenderness welling up in him, refusing to give into that even less than he would give into the anger. Still, he said, "Why don't you get some sleep. Tell me what you want to take with you - I'll run over to your apartment and get it. We need to leave pretty early in the morning."

She sat up and shook her head. "I'll go with you. You'd miss something important like hair gel and I'll end up looking like Don King."

Without thinking, he tugged on a curl. "We can't have that."

…

She followed him to the garage, and sank into the leather seats of the Porsche. The engine purred to life, and she watched out the window as he wove through the dark streets. Her stomach was tight, a ball of nerves at what the next few days were going to bring. She wasn't the type of woman who cried easily, or in front of people. But had she been alone, she would have burst into tears. They were going to get married, she and Ranger, and then get a divorce. The thought made her heart ache.

Anyone else in the world, hell even Joe, and she would have gone along with it. With their families, this town, the legalities – on a logical level it made sense. And knowing what his moral code was like, she knew he wasn't going to back down. But going through a sham of a marriage with a man she was desperately in love with, knowing it meant nothing to him, might just kill her.

She gave herself a mental smack to the head for being melodramatic. She could deny anything - those skills would serve her well now. So what if he didn't love her? She slid a hand over her belly, concentrating on the life within her. They would be just fine on their own, just the two of them.

And besides, while he had been in the gym beating someone or something up, she had scrubbed the inside of his toilet rim with his toothbrush. It had taken a while to find a spot of grime Ella had missed, but was persistent. She had also mixed a cup of sugar into his protein-shake mix. It had been more gratifying than walking down seven flights of stairs. She just hadn't had the energy to run away, only to be tracked down.

She glanced up when Ranger put the car in park. They were already at her apartment. Once inside, she grabbed a duffel bag and started gathering up enough clothes, hair stuff, and make-up for a couple days.

Of course, there was the question of what one wears while being forced into a wedding. Should she wear a dress? Jeans? She sat down on the bed and dropped her head into her hands. This is not how she had pictured her relationship with Ranger. Questions were pouring through her mind faster than she could think up answers for. What were they going to do? Pretend there was nothing between them? Would she live here or live at RangeMan or live with him or was he still going to stay in Miami? And the worst question of all, how could their friendship possibly survive this?

She sighed and pushed her hair out of her face. Dropping back on the bed, she found her thinking position. But thinking wasn't helping. She prayed they would only have to sign something for a judge, and not recite vows. There was no way she could say those words, and hear Ranger say them back, knowing that he didn't mean it.

The door opened, and Ranger stood there, staring down at her. His face was still blank. She was going to scream if she didn't see some form of emotion from him. Even the bits of anger she had seen peeking through earlier were better than this cold impassiveness. "I can't do this," she said, her voice cracking as she said it.

"Yes, you can." He stared at her for another moment. The only thing she could make out from his posture and expression was that he wasn't going to relent. Clearing her throat, she sat up. She rubbed her hands over her face, fighting the urge to cry or beg. Acid welled up in her stomach.

"Do you have everything you need?" he said.

She tried to take a deep breath but it came out as more of a gasp. "I still need makeup and hair stuff."

He picked up the bag off the floor and pushed it into her hands. "Grab it. We'll stop and get you some ice cream on the way back."

She nodded, no longer having the energy to fight him. Her life was slipping out of her control, and she didn't like the feeling. She took the bag and finished packing.

The ride back to RangeMan was just as silent as the ride from it had been. She followed him up to the apartment. As they walked in, he handed her the bag of ice cream from the convenience store. She had to smile at that - he had ran in and grabbed her her favorite flavor of Ben and Jerry's without her even asking. She grabbed a spoon and plopped down on the couch, using the sugar to finally bring her swirling thoughts to a halt. None of those questions in her head were doing her any good, anyway.

Ranger sat down beside her with a spoon. He reached for the pint of B&J's. "Give me some of that."

Her eyes opened wide and she hauled the ice cream close to her chest. "No! You don't eat ice cream. And I need this."

He reached over and easily plucked it from her hands. Bastard. "It's been a bad day for me too." He scooped out a big spoonful and handed it back to her. She watched, incredulous, as he ate it.

He raised an eyebrow at her.

"I have never seen you eat ice cream."

Without responding, he took the container from her again. He ate another spoonful before handing it back. She grabbed her own spoonful before he stole it again. They sat there, in the silence, sharing the pint of ice cream until it was gone.

…

Steph lay in bed, trying to fall asleep. The shower was running, the minutes ticking down until Ranger would finish and join her. She wanted to be asleep before he came in, but the tension in her body was making that impossible.

She took a deep breath through her nose, forcing herself to relax, and released it through her mouth. It worked, until the shower shut off. The sudden silence made every muscle in her body contract again. She wiggled her legs and blew out a sigh, listening to him move around in the bathroom. The door opened, a soft light spilling into the bedroom that was immediately extinguished. She listened for his footsteps, but didn't hear anything. It wasn't until the covers moved and the edge of the mattress dipped that she even realized he was next to the bed.

"You can relax, Steph," he said, settling beside her. Because it was a king sized mattress, there was plenty of room between them. A buffer. "I'm not going to bite."

"I am relaxed," she said, cringing at the tremor in her voice.

His arm moved and his suddenly his fingers were curling around hers, anchoring her. He seemed to hesitate before saying, "It'll be over before you know it, I promise."

"Okay." She hated how panicked her voice sounded. She wanted to be strong. She wanted to pretend like this didn't matter, like it wouldn't affect her, since it obviously didn't matter to him. Then again, of the two of them, he had always been a better actor.

She concentrated on the feel of his fingers and finally fell asleep.

…

Two hours after landing in Miami, Steph followed Ranger up the steps of the courthouse. Huge pillars stood across the front of the imposing structure. She looked around as she followed him - people were rushing around, confident of why they were there and what they would accomplish. Steph had no such confidence.

He hadn't spoken to her on the trip, other than to give her orders: sit there, follow here. It was as if that one flash of tenderness from the night before was just her imagination. Or maybe he was regretting even that small hint of yielding.

She had dressed in jeans and a cute top, because she hadn't been able to figure out what was appropriate to wear. It's not like there would be any pictures to commemorate the event anyway. He was wearing cargo pants and a black t-shirt.

The only thing that made her feel better had been watching him brush his teeth.

She followed Ranger as he navigated through the maze of elevators and hallways, finally stopping at a closed door. Ranger rapped twice on the door, and then opened it. An older man, Hispanic, she thought, was seated behind a desk, looking distinguished with his graying hair and reading glasses. He was wearing a tie, but no jacket. A black robe hung on a hanger behind him.

"Carlos," he said, his voice warm and intimate. He came around the desk and held out his hand, which Ranger grasped in his own.

"How are you, Your Honor?"

The man laughed and squeezed Ranger's hand. "None of that now. And I'm doing just fine. You had Sarah panicked when you called the house last night. I was happy to tell her that it was good news this time that had you in need of my services."

Ranger chuckled. "She shouldn't worry. I haven't been in trouble in years." He tugged Steph's arm, bringing her closer, and introduced her. "This is Judge Melendez, a close friend of my father's," he said to her.

Steph smiled and held out her hand, murmuring all the right pleasantries, while she frantically thought through her options. She had come with every intention of making a scene, screaming objections and generally being such a pain in the ass that no judge would take her actions for consent. The warmth and regard in which the Judge held Ranger, however, not to mention the family connection, made her hesitant.

The conversation around her switched to Spanish, leaving her free to follow her wandering thoughts. As Ranger spoke quickly, the Judge frowned and nodded, looking serious. Then he glanced between them and to Stephanie, he said, "Ah, I see how it is then."

She turned to Ranger. "What did you just say to him?"

"I explained our situation," he said. He said 'situation' like it was something distasteful.

She glanced back at the Judge, who was looking at her with such pity he seemed only a second away from patting her hand and crooning, 'you poor dear.' Well, screw family connections, she thought. "I'm not consenting to this," she said, planting her hands on her hips. "I'm not marrying him."

"Of course," said the Judge. He sat behind his desk, propped his reading glasses on his nose, and studied a stack of papers in front of him. He pushed the top sheet toward Ranger. "Carlos, if you'll start by signing here," he said.

Ranger leaned down and signed his name. He handed her the pen with a dark look that dared her to cause a scene.

She glanced back and forth between the men. Startled, she noticed that the Judge's expression was almost identical to Ranger's heated stare. Refusing to be cowed, she crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not doing it. This is ridiculous. You can't force me into a marriage."

Judge Meledez leaned back in his towering leather chair. "Actually, Stephanie, I could. I would suggest that you simply sign." His voice, while being as kind as a grandfather's, had that same steely vein of authority that Ranger's held.

She took a small step backwards. "No."

Ranger's nostrils flared and his eyes darkened. She instinctively took another step backwards. He reached over, unlocked her arm from over her chest, and shoved the pen in her hand. "Sign," he all but growled.

She shook her head and tried to drop the pen.

"Sign the papers, Stephanie," the Judge said, his voice perfectly calm, as if he had no part in this little drama. "Or I will have you arrested for contempt."

Ranger closed her fingers around the pen, drawing her attention back to him.

She met his eyes. "Please, Ranger."

His expression didn't change. It was ironic really. He was always the one she turned to when she needed help, when she needed saved from something. Instinctively, she had turned to him, thinking he would rescue her from even this.

Of course, he wouldn't.

She glanced again at the Judge, but he had clearly cast his loyalties with Ranger. She caved, as everyone in the room had known she would, and stepped forward. Tears swam in her eyes, blurring the page she was looking at. When the line above her printed name came into focus, she leaned down and signed, cursing the lack of control she now had over her own life.

She planted the pen on the desk with a thud and glared at both men.

Ranger ignored her, turning his attention back to the Judge. "Gracias, Tio Jaime. Tell Aunt Sarah to stop worrying so much."

The Judge's authoritative face relaxed back into the warm smile he had greeted them with. He came around the desk placed an arm around Ranger's shoulder as he walked him to the door. "We will see you and Julie for Christmas?"

"Of course."

"Good. Now go and let me have a private word with your wife."

Stephanie stood mute, her anger growing at not only having been manipulated by someone who turned out to his uncle - friend of the family, my ass! - but now by being forced to extend this further. Ranger stared at her for a moment, his gaze menacing, before finally nodded and stepping into the hall.

"Sit down, Stephanie," the Judge said, waving at a chair before sitting in the one opposite it. "I would like a quick word with you before you go."

There was a part of her brain that reminded her this was a judge and she should act accordingly, but that was overridden by the part that was plain pissed at their high-handed treatment of her. She glared and stayed silent.

"My wife and I have always been fond of Carlos, ever since he was a boy. In spite of the life he has chosen for himself, or perhaps because of it, he has a very old-fashioned sense of honor. He never neglects his responsibilities. We both know that he will provide for this child everything he or she will ever need. This is the one thing he is asking of you in return, and its a simple enough thing to undo in a few months. Would you really deny him so much?"

Steph stared at him, tears pricking the backs of her eyes, as she tried to sort through what he was telling her. Her gaze dropped to the marriage certificate on his desk, signed already by both of them.

"Is there a reason you have for not wanting to marry him?" the judge asked in that grandfatherly voice.

She pressed a hand to her throat and tried to keep those pent-up tears from falling. "I can't...I just..." She stopped, having no idea how to explain her jumbled emotions, to herself or anyone else. She stared down at their two signatures, side-by-side and sealing them into a loveless union when all she had wanted in the first place was his love.

"I think I see what the problem is." This time he did reach out and pat her hand. "Don't give up hope, Stephanie."

Miserably, she nodded her head, before stepping out into the hallway in search of her husband.

…


	6. Chapter 5

_I don't own them, make no money, etc. Rating for SMUT and language_

_For those who have been asking, Joe will be appearing in the next chapter tomorrow, and fairly consistently from there on out, though not every chapter. If you'd like to know each chapter, just PM me._

_**Fair warning **__– there will be those of you who do not like Ranger in this chapter. This chapter, and half way through the next are the worst of the angst, I promise._

…

Ranger made several calls on the drive away from the courthouse, all in Spanish. They meandered through the thick Miami traffic, the skyscrapers eventually giving way to small, close houses. The neighborhood they were in had children running everywhere, just out of school and spending their pent up energy.

She let out a slow breath and rubbed a hand over her belly as she stared out the window, trying not to think about what they had just done. She agreed that getting married was the right thing to do for the baby's sake - and hell, she'd get out of it in a few months - but following his orders left a bitter taste in her mouth.

Ranger stopped in front of tidy, Spanish-style house. "I'd rather you didn't mention the baby," he said as he put the car in park.

Steph had only a second to look around and try to decipher his cryptic statement. As he opened his car door, the front door of the house opened and a small tornado flew down the walk toward them, all arms and legs and long dark hair.

Steph climbed out the car as Julie skidded to a halt in front of her. The girl grinned widely. "Hi Steph!"

In spite of her tumultuous emotions, Steph couldn't help the answering smile that spread across her face. "Hey Julie." She studied Julie closer than she had last time, and wondered if her little girl would look just like her. She hoped so.

"Hey Ranger," Julie said to him. "Mom already made dinner and said you guys should stay."

Ranger glanced at her over the top of the car and raised an eyebrow.

"Sure," Steph said.

Julie squealed and grabbed her hand, dragging her toward the house and wholly ignoring Ranger. "Come on, I'll show you my room. I made a scrapbook, and you're in it."

"I am?"

"Yep. There's newspaper articles about you in there. And one picture of you in those terrible leather pants."

She followed Julie into the house, leaving Ranger standing beside the car. "Are you sure you have to keep proof of those pants?"

Julie giggled. She led her into a small, clean kitchen, where a woman was preparing dinner. "Ranger and Stephanie are here, mom."

Turning to Steph, Rachel smiled. She was slim and pretty, with at least some Hispanic heritage, and shoulder length, wavy brown hair. Her smile was warm and friendly. She brushed off her hands on a towel and extended one to Stephanie. "It's nice to finally meet you. I've heard a lot about you from Julie."

Steph smiled back, instantly put at ease by Rachel's warm demeanor. Something about her smile and her no-nonsense attack of the food reminded her of Mary Lou. "It's nice to meet you too."

"Come on," Julie said, grabbing Steph's hand again. "I want to show you my room and my scrapbook."

Rachel laughed. "We're eating in half an hour, Julie."

Julie yelled okay as she dragged Steph from the room. She barely caught sight of Ranger's dark expression as Julie pulled her past him.

…

"What's this scrapbook?" Ranger said as he entered the kitchen.

Rachel sighed and ran the back of her hand over her forehead. "It's all the newspaper clippings from when she was kidnapped."

Ranger raised an eyebrow. "Should she be dwelling on that?"

"I honestly don't know. I had the same reaction, but the psychologist we've been taking her to assures me that it's perfectly normal, and something she'll let go of when she's ready."

Ranger sat on one of the bar stools, thankful for the chance to focus on anything besides Stephanie. "How's the therapy going? She doesn't say much about it when I ask her."

"Good, I think. We've cut down to twice a month, and the doctor seems to think we can stop entirely in another few months. It's been almost a year now, and for the most part, she seems to have gotten over it."

Ranger nodded. "Where's Ron?"

"He took the two younger kids to his parent's house this afternoon. His mom needed him to do some work and the boys wanted to help. I'm sure it's madhouse there now."

"More than likely," he said. He genuinely liked Rachel and her family, but their younger two boys were hellions. He winked at Rachel. "He's not worried about leaving you here alone with me?"

Rachel rolled her eyes and laughed. "Stephanie may not be immune to your looks and your charm, but you forget that I am."

He ran his hands over his head, his amusement fading at her mention. "I'm pretty sure Steph's immune too."

Over the course of their conversation, Rachel had been chopping vegetables, stirring things, and moving around the kitchen. Now she paused with her knife poised over a bunch of lettuce and stared at him. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say she's not here just to fill in at the office for a day or two."

"She's pregnant."

The knife in her hand clattered onto the cutting board. "Don't tell me you dragged that poor girl down here to your Uncle Jaime's office--"

"It seemed like the best thing to do."

Rachel sighed. "And is the new bride happy to be married to you?"

He didn't think either of them could be described as happy with the arrangement. "You didn't seem to mind," he said.

"Carlos! I was eighteen and terrified. My parents were insisting. Stephanie is a grown woman who is perfectly capable of making her own choices."

He rubbed his hands over his eyes. "It's the right thing to do."

"For you, yes," she said, her voice softening. "Did you stop to think about what the right thing was for her?"

He didn't reply, but from the look on her face, he didn't have to. He took a shallow breath, fighting to retain control over his emotions - to hang on to the objectivity he had managed to find the night before in the gym. All day it had been a struggle: when he woke up and found her huddled away from him, back turned, in bed; when she had fallen asleep on the plane, her cheeks turning pink in her sleep; when she had stared at him, silently begging him not to force her into this marriage.

Her laughter filtered down the stairs from Julie's bedroom and he bit back a groan. He wanted to grab her - to throttle her or fuck her he couldn't say which. Both, probably in that order.

Most of all, he wanted to blame her. But he couldn't do that. It had been his own weakness, his own unquenchable desire for her that had gotten them into this mess. The only thing that could save them now was his iron will, and his ability to hold himself apart from her.

If only he didn't instinctively reach for her every time she was near.

Because if he touched her, he'd give in to the tenderness that hit him every time he looked at her. He wouldn't do that. He couldn't do that. He'd take care of his responsibilities, but this need that he had for her - whatever it was - was something he refused to allow in his life.

Not even for Steph.

"I just hope you know what you've gotten yourself into," Rachel said. She handed him a bowl of salad. "Put this in the table while I get Julie and Stephanie."

…...

Rachel stopped Stephanie with a hand to her arm, as Ranger said good bye to Julie. "How do you feel about Julie knowing about the baby?" she said.

"He told you?" Steph said. She was a little startled by that fact, given his attitude. "I'm not sure he wanted Julie to know, but I'm fine with it."

Rachel winked. "I've gotten good at ignoring what he wants."

Steph couldn't stop the answering grin that spread across her face. "Then yes. I'm fine with Julie knowing. She'll be a big sister, after all."

Ranger walked back toward them, and they quickly moved their conversation to safer topics.

"When are you flying back?" Rachel said to Steph.

"Thursday morning," Ranger answered.

"Oh good," Rachel said. "I'll come grab you from the office tomorrow afternoon. We can go shopping or something."

Ranger glanced back and forth between them. Steph ignored him and smiled at Rachel. "Sounds great. Just come by whenever." She gave Julie a quick hug and said good bye before following Ranger to the car.

They made the drive to the RangeMan building in silence. Steph watched out the window at her first glimpse of lit-up Miami and realized that they were now doing a lot of things in silence. Ranger had never been one for small-talk, but before the silence had always been comfortable - a benign, friendly silence that said they were happy to simply be together.

But _before _was a tricky word. A lot of things had changed since before 'that night,' before she got pregnant, before they got married.

Ranger took the turn into the parking garage too fast, slammed on the breaks, and jammed the gearshift into park. She flinched when he climbed out and slammed the door behind him. Scrambling, she climbed out and caught up with him at the elevator.

But she immediately wished she hadn't. She kept a careful distance from him. There was nothing overt to alert her to his mood: his posture was calm, his face was blank. But she could almost pretend she could see the tension radiating off of him - a black swirling cloud, vibrating in intensity. She had no desire to be caught up in it. When he turned to her, his eyes were the same shade of black her imagination was conjuring up.

"I don't want you meeting with Rachel tomorrow."

She glared. "Too bad."

His eyes got darker and his jaw clenched. She would have said more but something about the small, confined space they were in made her hesitate. Here, there was no escape. She shut her mouth with a snap and pushed her back into the corner of the elevator.

He didn't miss the defensive gesture. Something flickered across his face, fast enough that she couldn't read it. The elevator stopped on the top floor; the ding as the door opened made her jump. Without glancing at her, Ranger walked to the apartment door and unlocked it.

As she followed him, she took a deep breath, the air lighter now that she was no longer trapped with him. It did nothing, however, to calm her pounding heart or alleviate the dread she felt at following him into the apartment. She pushed it down and marched inside; then had to force herself not to spin around when she heard the resounding click of the door locking behind her.

But she did jump when she heard him speak from directly behind her. "I meant it, Stephanie. I don't want you meeting her."

Something heavy was in her stomach, holding down her words. It was hard to concentrate on pushing words past her throat and keeping a safe distance between them at the same time. "You can't tell me what to do, Ranger."

Somehow he had slipped past her defenses - he was standing directly in front of her, so close that she could feel his breath on her face. It was cool, fresh. Maybe it was the stance he took or the anger dripping off of him, but for some reason, she had expected it to be scalding.

"You're not meeting with her."

Fuck him. She wasn't sticking around for this. She took a step away but his hand shot out to catch her. She glanced down to see his fingers wrapped around her upper arm - his darker skin contrasting against hers. It wasn't a painful grip, but it was one more visible reminder of his control over her. She yanked on her arm. "You don't control me. I'll do whatever I want."

"You're my wife. Or don't you remember."

Something snapped. Maybe it was the edge under his voice when he said 'wife.' Or maybe it was just the fact that she'd had more emotions she could name running through her at lightening speed for two days.

"No," she said, bitterness slipping out in between the words. She pulled her arm away and took a step back. "No, I'm not. I'm just some girl you knocked up and are going to walk away from. Again."

His nostrils flared and his chest heaved. She could see him fighting to restrain himself. It wasn't working. He stalked toward her. Instinctively, she another step backwards, until her back brushed against the wall. He kept coming.

She held her breath as he stopped just inches from her. When he spoke, his words were low and drawn out, as if they were being pulled from the furthest reaches of what was left of his control. "Don't push me, Stephanie."

Some whispering little devil made her say, "Then don't bully me!"

Before she realized what was happening, her arms were pinned behind her and his body was pressing her into the wall. Tension radiated off of him. His voice was colder than she had ever heard it.

"You don't know how badly I wish you were just _some girl_, Stephanie. If you were just some girl, I would have worn a condom because you wouldn't have felt so fucking good that I couldn't stand having something between us."

His grip on her arms tightened, pulling them back until she winced. His posture was more sexual than violent. She knew he wouldn't actually hurt her, and yet...and yet.

"_Some girl_ doesn't make me lose my mind every time she walks into a room because I can't think about anything else but fucking her."

Had he been whispering, they would have been lover's words. Endearments. The stark anger in his voice made them piercing insults. Tears pricked behind her eyelids His hand tangled in her hair and pulled her head back, forcing her to meet his gaze.

"_Some girl_ doesn't make me wish I was a different man, that I had any other life."

Her eyes widened, but before she could even sort through the meaning his words, his lips crashed down on hers, his teeth scraping over her lip and his tongue plunging into her mouth. She whimpered and tried to lean back, away from the angry assault. But the hard body pressed into hers was almost as unforgiving as the wall at her back. Her arms, head, and torso were all pinned.

She was trapped.

She whimpered again, a louder protest and tried to turn her head. He stopped the kiss and stared at her. The sound of her ragged gasps for air was the only thing that could be heard in the still apartment. Without waiting for her permission, he resumed the brutal kiss. A knee was jammed between her thighs, lifting her off the ground.

She hated herself for the instant curls of desire that sprung from the friction of his thigh against her, for how badly she wanted him.

There would be bruises tomorrow, from the tightness of his hands on her wrist, then on her hips. Her arms free, she shoved at his chest, trying to push him away, but he only used the space to yank off his t-shirt and throw it aside.

His fingers grabbed at her waist band, clumsily trying to unhook the button.

"Don't."

Her ragged, barely audible whisper froze him. With excruciating slowness, his gaze dragged upwards from her jeans to her face. The heat in his eyes, the passion and desire mixed with anger, was palpable.

She made another sound, this one of capitulation rather than protest. She was caving and she knew it. With his eyes steady on hers, his fingers kept working her jeans undone, but slower now. Softer.

Intellectually, she didn't want to do this. She couldn't do this. She felt fragile, so full of cracks that the merest breath would widen them into fissures that she would be powerless to recover from. There would be no recovery from this.

But his touch gentled and his fingers skimmed over her ribs, across her breast. She tried to stop the low sound that escaped her at the heat searing through her, but didn't accomplish it. He pushed her jeans down, over her hips. She tried to shake her head, but his gaze was still holding her, pinning her as surely as his hands had been a second ago. That gaze was mesmerizing, drowning her. The mask that he wore for the world had slipped and she could read his look. A look that said not only how much he wanted her but how much he _needed _her. He was desperate.

His mouth lowered and she watched, unable to stop him and unwilling now, even if she could have. His lips brushed across hers, healing the pain his earlier kisses had caused. Without meaning to, she grasped at his back, digging her nails into his flesh, pulling him even closer.

She gave in, just like they both knew she would, seduced by the sensations that only he could produce in her.

He lifted her up higher, using one hand to drag her jeans off. The rough fabric scraped against her heated skin. The second they were out of the way, he slammed her back against the wall. She groaned and arched her back, lifting her hips and moving against him, desperately seeking release. He grasped her hips with both hands, holding tight, angling her upward.

The room was spinning, she was so dizzy with need and desire. He tore his mouth from hers, leaving her free to gasp for air. Chest heaving, she tried to restore her equilibrium, but he was sliding his tongue along her neck, dragging it into the hollow between her throat and shoulder. She whimpered and angled her head, giving him more access. Her nails scraped along his back and shoulders as she clawed at him.

Her shirt was ripped off with startling efficiency, leaving her clad in only her panties. His hands snaked around to grab her ass, his fingers sliding under the thin fabric, squeezing and pulling her hips against his. Dipping his head, he caught one nipple between his teeth and bit down. She smothered a scream and angled her body, offering herself up to him. The musky scent of arousal hung heavy in the air, goading her farther, making her rub against the rock-hard erection pushing at her. The sound of ragged gasps of air, quick sighs, and groans of pleasure were all that could be heard in the otherwise silent apartment.

There was no space left between them; still, she managed to get his belt buckle between her fingers and wiggle the clasp undone. His mouth was still on her breast, the texture of the stubble on his chin abrasive against her sensitive skin; his hands were still kneading her ass. The room had deepened into shadows - the silence and darkness lending to the moment the anonymity she needed.

She got his buckle out of the way and his pants unsnapped. With a muffled curse at her slow speed, he ripped her panties off and shoved his pants down far enough to spring free. There was no warning before he was thrusting inside of her, not bothering to pause at the resistance created by months of celibacy.

She tensed, crying out in pain. He held himself still and met her eyes, his midnight black gaze boring into her, silently demanding her permission to continue

"I'm okay," she forced out, past the pain and the emotions and whatever it was that was making her heart hurt so badly. She gasped. "Go. Move"

He complied, pulling out and thrusting so hard her back slammed against the wall and she cried out again. This time he didn't stop - she wouldn't have been able to stand it if he so much as paused. Her gasp now was one of satisfaction as his rhythm sent waves of pleasure radiating through her. Still, it wasn't enough.

She clamped her legs around his waist, trying to angle herself better, increase the friction and the pressure. She met his thrusts, moving against him with a passion that was bordering on destructive.

He slowed, burying himself in her as deep as possible and pausing. His lips were against her neck. "Christ, Steph." His arms tightened around her and he started moving again, gentle movements that sent an entirely different type of pleasure spiking through her.

But she couldn't handle the tenderness - not when she knew that it wasn't real and wouldn't last beyond these moments that he was inside of her. She pushed her hips against him. "Harder."

He looked at for a second before complying, but even in that short glance there were so many emotions chasing across his face that she couldn't identify any of them. He sped up, harder, harsher, making her back slam against the wall.

His mouth dropped back her neck and he bit down, the pain flinging her over the edge. Finally, he came, pushing deep into her and trapping her body between himself and the wall.

A gasping, almost sobbing noise ripped from her as she tried to drag some semblance of air into her lungs. Her legs dangled uselessly as she was still pinned. The tension in his body forced her hands to stay still where they rested against his back as she waited for them both to recover.

The times before with Ranger, few as they had been, she had been left feeling content. She had curled into him, loving the feel of his skin and his heat and his heartbeat under her head.

This time, there was no contentment, no sense of closeness or intimacy. Despite the act, or maybe because of it, the air still crackled with anger. Her pounding heart wouldn't calm, but instead continued to beat erratically, now as much out of fear as passion. Slowly, she raised her eyes to his face, dreading what she was going to see there.

His pupils were dilated but even the irises were black, and all the emotion she had seen was gone. His face was set in hard, angry lines, the skin stretched taut over cheekbones and his piercing gaze focused entirely on her. Her breath caught and her arms dropped to dangle at her sides. Her heart stuttered and then took off again.

He pulled out of her and let go, her feet falling to the ground with a thud. Her knees buckled and only the close press of his body kept her upright. He grabbed her arms and waited until she could stand on her own. Then he took a step back from her, and without breaking eye contact, zipped up in cargo pants.

"That was a bad idea," he said tonelessly, that black, angry stare never wavering.

"Fuck you." She grabbed her clothes and marched past him, slamming the bedroom door shut, then locking herself in the bathroom.

…


	7. Chapter 6

_I don't own them, don't make any profit, will return them…. Rating for language_

_Thanks for the reviews! If I didn't hit you personally, know that I appreciate it_

…

"Fuck you." She grabbed her clothes and marched away. "Asshole!" she yelled over her shoulder.

The bedroom door slammed shut behind her. He let his head fall forward against the wall where he had just held her pinned and pounded his fist above his head, muttering curses under his breath at her and this whole damn situation and most of all at himself for being so fucking weak.

With a final, vicious curse, he turned and grabbed his cell phone. He punched in the speed dial for Tank. "Get Steph on the next flight back to Trenton," he growled into the phone. "I don't care what time it is, just get her the fuck on it."

Running his hands through his hair, he paced until it rang again. "When?" he said when he answered.

"An hour," Tank said.

He hung up and headed for the bedroom. The shower was running. The bathroom door was locked, but it was flimsy and his boot against the side of the door opened it easily. He jerked open the door to the shower stall and froze at the sight of Steph curled up on the floor under the spray, sobs shaking her body.

"Fuck." The instinct to comfort her - to pull her up and hold her tight until her body stopped shaking - was overpowering.

He almost did it.

His hands were reaching for her before he was able stop himself. But they were past the point of being able to offer comfort to each other. The best thing he could do for her was to get her home and stay the fuck away from her. She'd be better off. Ruthlessly shoving aside any tenderness, he closed his hand around her upper arm and hauled her to her feet.

She bit back a terrified sound and glared at him. "Let me go." She tried to pull her arm away, but he held her still. His gaze lingered on her softly rounded belly. He hadn't noticed it before, but then, he he'd been to frenzied with a terrifyingly desperate need for her to focus on anything but the feel of her body.

"Get your fucking hands off of me, Ranger." Fresh tears continued to spill from her eyes, but even that wasn't making her back down. She yanked on her arm. Normally, he didn't curse a lot, but at the moment, he couldn't seem to stop. He had done this to her. He'd hurt her, because for some godforsaken reason he apparently could no longer control himself.

He closed his eyes and dropped his hand. Turning away, he grabbed a towel and held it out to her. "Get out."

She did, turning off the water and wrapping the towel around her, hiding herself. She stepped out onto the rug.

"Get dressed."

She planted her feet. "Why?"

"You're on a flight back to Trenton in an hour."

She stared at him with those big eyes, so vulnerable he couldn't stand to keep looking at her. He turned his back and walked toward the door. "Hurry up," he said, his voice more gruff than he intended.

…

He pulled over in front of the departures terminal and put the truck in park. She was relieved she was leaving - if he hadn't booked the flight, she would have insisted. No way was she staying anywhere near him tonight.

She stared at his profile, but he looked as cold and closed off as he had since they had…she mentally groaned. How could she be so stupid?

If only she hadn't given in to him. Then she could blame the whole thing on him. But that's exactly what she had done - he had gotten in up close and she had caved, just like she always did. She should have stood her ground, told him no and walked away, like they both knew damn good and well she could have done.

But she hadn't.

He still didn't look at her. She had the irrational thought that he was going to drive away and that would be that. Leave his lawyer to handle the paperwork and exit from her life as smoothly and irrevocably as he had entered it. Then again, maybe it wasn't that irrational.

"Will I see you again?" she said.

He flinched, making her wonder how close to the truth her thoughts had ran. "Of course you will." He looked at her and let his gaze drift down to her belly. Just as quickly, he looked away. "I'll call and check on you both. Hurry up or you'll miss your flight."

She waited another beat, desperately needing some expression of tenderness from him. Something. Anything to know that he was coming back, that he still cared about her at some level. But nothing about him had been tender since she told him about the pregnancy. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel. She sighed. "You're a real bastard, you know that?" she said without heat.

Blood returned to his hands as he relaxed his death grip. Tension eased out of his body, but still he didn't look at her. "I never claimed to be anything different, Stephanie."

She wanted to read more into that statement, into the almost wistful tone of voice. But that would be a futile attempt to convince herself that he did care.

"I shouldn't have done that to you," he said. Finally, he turned to look at her, but she couldn't read anything in his expression.

"You didn't. I did it to myself. I knew better and I should have--" She swallowed hard. "It doesn't matter."

He stared at her for a moment before reaching into his pocket for something. "Here. It'll help with the gossip when you get back." He dropped it into her hand.

It was a ring. A wide gold band, with an intricate swirling pattern etched onto it. Subtle and unassuming, it was stunning. "It was my grandmother's," he said in a gruff voice. "I'm sure it'll need to be sized."

She stared at him, but his eyes were just as cold and empty as they had been before. She felt like she should say something more – something appropriate to the occasion. But nothing came to her. She grabbed her bag and climbed out of the truck, not bothering to look back.

…

Lester was waiting at the airport for her. It was two am, and she was dead on her feet. Lester shifted his gaze between her, her belly, and the ring on her finger before pulling her into a bear hug. "You okay, beautiful?"

"I'm okay. Just tired."

He grabbed her bags and led her to a waiting SUV. She leaned back and closed her eyes, letting the soft music that was playing clam her. Lester's quiet, solid presence was reassuring in all the ways Ranger's hadn't been, and for the first time since this whole mess started the day before, she felt her equilibrium returning.

She had thought, at some level, that if she went along with him, that somehow their friendship would survive this marriage and this child. With a heavy heart, she realized that tonight proved that theory wrong.

Not a mistake she would make with Ranger again.

She shifted in her seat, her sore muscles tight after the long flight. Lester glanced at her, but she just smiled. "So you and the boss are having a baby," he said.

Steph snorted. "I'm having a baby. He's having a fit. He wants nothing to do with us."

"He'll come around," Lester said.

She shook her head. "It doesn't matter if he does."

…

Steph stumbled out of bed the next morning. A glance at the clock confirmed that it was after eleven. Oh well - Lester told her to take the day off anyway. She made her way through her morning routine. It wasn't until she was brushing her teeth and caught sight of the ring flashing in the mirror that it all came rushing back to her.

She held on to the vanity as the room around her swayed. She was married to Ranger. The tumult of incessant activity over the past two days had prevented the reality from settling in. For years, Ranger had been her protector. He'd taken care of her, and always, no matter what, _always _been there when she needed him.

He wasn't now.

She flung her toothbrush onto the counter and stomped out the bathroom. Fuck Ranger. She had decided two days ago, before she told him, that she and this baby would be just fine without a man in their life. That wasn't any less true today than it had been then. She had married him - had even agreed with his reasons for doing so - but that didn't mean he had anything more to do with her and this baby than he had before.

Stomping her way to the kitchen for breakfast, she froze when she saw the light on her answering machine in the middle of a spastic fit. Surely not...surely someone had just called to check on her. There's no way word of the 'wedding' had spread that fast.

She stared at the blinking light, trying to come with a way to justify ignoring it. Finally, with a shaking hand, she reached out and pushed the play button.

An automated voice said, "You have eighty-seven new messages. To hear your messages, press--"

"Shut up, phone bitch," she muttered as she jerked the answering machine away from the wall. Throwing it down, she raced for her closet. This meant her mother knew. She pulled on clothes as she ran for the front door, pausing only long enough to scoop up her keys and pocketbook.

No one was standing at the door to her parents house when she pulled up. Bad sign. She stepped inside and hurried down the hall, where she could hear her mother's voice.

"I am quite sure that Stephanie did not run off to Cuba, marry a black man, and have his baby." Her mother caught sight of Steph and, with a hand over the phone receiver, said, "You didn't, did you?"

"He's Cuban, not black, and it was Florida."

Her mom gave a triumphant smile and turned back to the phone. "He's not black, he's Cuban and they were in Florida--" She froze mid-sentence, and the phone dropped from her fingertips, clattering onto the floor. Her face was pale when she turned to Steph.

She held up her left hand and shrugged.

"Oh my god. You really got married."

Steph nodded.

"And you're pregnant?"

"Four months."

Without a word, her mom turned and walked into the kitchen. Steph followed to see her mom opening and closing cabinet doors and muttering under her breath.

"I'm sorry you found out this way. I didn't realize it had already hit the grapevine. I was coming over to tell you this afternoon."

Her mom stopped and looked at Steph. "You really got married. Tell me you're married."

"I'm married, mom."

Ellen heaved a huge sigh of relief. "Okay. I can deal with this. As long as you're married. Thank you for that. Now, where is this man? Is he coming for dinner?"

"He's staying in Miami," Steph said, ignoring the catch in her voice when she said it.

Her mom heard it though. She frowned, and then started looking around the kitchen again. "Here," she said, grabbing a plate. "German torte cake. I made it yesterday before all this." She steered Steph toward the table, and within seconds had produced a huge slice of cake and a glass of milk.

The cake Steph was staring at swam as tears filled her eyes. In the language of her family, German torte cake was the epitome of unconditional love. Her mom grabbed another fork and pulled up a chair. For that blissful instant, Steph couldn't have asked for a better mother in the world.

"Now," Ellen said, "Let's talk about childbirth."

Steph groaned and shoved a huge bite of cake in her mouth.

Twenty minutes later, dead center in Ellen's recitation of the role of amniotic fluid, her dad walked into the kitchen. He froze at the word 'placenta.' His terrified gaze swung back and forth between Steph and Ellen.

"It's true then?"

Steph ducked her head before saying, "Yeah, daddy. It's true."

Her dad dropped a kiss on the top of her head as he walked past the refrigerator. "It'd better be a boy," was all he said.

Steph smiled at her dad and shoved another bite of cake in her mouth. She was sure it was a girl, but there was no point in dashing her father's hopes this early.

Three hours later, she escaped. Still shuddering over her mother's descriptions of what the next five months would bring, she let herself into her apartment with a sigh of relief. She dropped her bag on the floor of the foyer and stumbled toward the living room. The sight of Joe sitting on her couch - long legs stretched out in front of him and his arms propped on the back on either side of him - brought her to an abrupt halt.

"Congratulations," he said. His tone was mild, but his eyes were darker than normal.

She dropped into the other chair. "I wondered how long it would take you to hear."

"I gotta say, I was more surprised by hearing about the wedding than the baby."

"Yeah, well, the wedding wasn't my idea."

Joe smiled. "I didn't think that it was." They stared at each other for a moment as the silence between them turned awkward. "Are you sure it's his?"

She nodded. "I could give you the whole explanation of my ovulation cycle that I had to give Ranger."

Joe wrinkled up his nose. "I'll take your word for it."

"I'm sorry, Joe. I..." She glanced down at her hands.

He sat up and leaned toward her. "Why don't we call it a wash, Steph. I slept with Terry, you slept with Ranger." He raised his hands in surrender the second she opened her mouth to set him straight. "I know - I slept with Terry first and started the whole thing. I'm sorry."

She smiled, even if wasn't as bright as normal. "Thanks." It was slightly gratifying to hear him admit to cheating on her, but with everything else that had happened since then, it no longer seemed important.

"Friends?" he said.

Her smile was a little brighter, a little more sincere this time. "Yeah. I'd like that."

Joe stood up. "So for the first order of business as your friend, where the hell is Manoso, because I'm going to kick his ass."

"Don't do that," she said, rolling her eyes. "He's in Miami anyway. I don't know when he's coming back, or if he is at all." She frowned at the last thought, surprised by the relief she felt at that fact.

"You mean he's leaving you here to do this alone?"

"I'm not alone! And I didn't want his help anyway. I've got Mary Lou and Lula and Valerie and my mom - I'll be just fine."

Joe studied her for a minute before sitting down beside her and pulling her against him. "Don't forget. You've got me too, Cupcake." He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "I'm not going anywhere."

She curled into his chest, thankful for any buffer she could get between herself and Ranger. A part of her could understand Ranger's anger. After all, he hadn't wanted a relationship or ties to her, and now he had both. Permanent ties. His loss of control was more difficult to understand. Ranger had always had a tight grip on his emotions. Never gave away what he was thinking or feeling.

She had the distinct suspicion that part of his anger stemmed from revealing more to her than he had ever meant for her to know. She had seen emotion in him, and more than that, she had seen those moments when he needed her, was desperate for her.

She had seen his vulnerability, and that wasn't something he easily forgave.

…


	8. Chapter 7

_Okay, I swear that the last chapter marked the end of the worst of the angst. There might still be moments, but it won't be as bad as the last few chapters, I promise. _

_Just a heads up for those who have been asking, there are 17 chapters in this story (the prologue plus 16 chapters). So we're almost half way. Also, the end of tomorrow's chapter will bring us back to the events of the prologue._

_I don't own them, make no profit, etc… Rating for language_

…

Ranger stared at the phone he had just hung up, trying to make sense of the conversation with his accountant. But there was no good explanation he could come up with. He called Tank.

"Get me on a flight to Trenton tomorrow," he said. Calling Steph wasn't going to cut it. This was going to require a face-to-face show-down.

He leaned back in this chair and stacked his hands under his head. He hadn't seen Steph since he'd dropped her off at the airport two months ago. His lawyer had drawn up the divorce papers, ready to be filed as soon as the baby was born. Until then, staying in Miami seemed like the best choice for both of them. God knew they couldn't be in the same room together.

As long as they kept their distance, he could control his emotions over the whole situation. Now, though, she was threatening that stability, even from a distance. He had spent years perfecting his self-control, to the point that he rarely felt strong emotions, much less gave in to them. One look at Steph and her swollen belly and all that fell apart.

The phone rang again: Tank with flight information. It was an early flight, early enough to get him to Steph's apartment before she left for work. Good. They could get this out of the way, and he could actually get some work done in that office.

A knock sounded on the door and Jose, his second-in-command at the Miami branch stuck his head in. "That take-down is lined up for 0200."

Ranger nodded. "Have everyone here and ready to go by one thirty," he said. "Does the time still work for Lucinda?"

"She said no problem."

Ranger nodded and Jose disappeared. As long as it went smoothly, he should still make it to the airport in plenty of time. In Miami, it was worthless to try to get a skip out of a club before midnight. It also usually required the talent of Lucinda, a high-end hooker who regularly worked the club scene. Then again, Steph could manage it too, but Steph had a style all her own. Lucinda was pure Miami. She was also expensive, both for distractions and sex.

…

She was leaning against his car when Ranger got there. He glanced at his watch. It was 3:45 am, and he had to be at the airport by 4:30. He hadn't slept, and his bad mood lingered. Still, he gave Lucinda a polite nod. "Good job."

A coy smile curved her lips and she sashayed up to him. Her leather mini-skirt was skin tight, moving with her hips as she walked. She was wearing a thin, slinky silk top that showed off all of her breasts. Her slim legs were a mile long, topped off by four inch heels.

Warily, he watched as she stopped in front of him. She ran her fingers down his chest and started at him through lowered lashes. "Do you have plans, Carlos?" She dragged out his name in a low, husky voice with just a hint of a leftover Cuban accent.

He wished he could say that he was unaffected by her little display. But he was a man and Lucinda was very good at her chosen profession: namely, seducing men. "Yes, I have plans already," he said. His voice was calm and cool, even if he could feel his internal temperature climbing.

Her mouth dropped into a sexy pout, and her body brushed strategically against his. "That's too bad," she purred. "I'm finding myself in need of some non-work related relaxation."

He ignored his dick, which was screaming that the most expensive hooker in the city was offering it up for free. "You're a beautiful woman, Lucinda."

She smiled.

"But I'm a very married man."

Her eyes widened in shock before she was able to school her features. "And does your wife know how lucky she is?"

He chuckled, thinking about just how lucky Steph thought herself to be. "I'm sure," he said mildly. "I have a flight I have to catch. Jose will have a check for you."

She pouted for another second, but walked away. Mentally thanking her for adding to an already high level of sexual frustration, he climbed into the car and headed for the airport.

….

Steph stepped out the shower and slathered on cocoa butter lotion, trying to prevent stretch marks. Her hands slid over her belly, already well-rounded. She didn't want to think about what she was going to look like in another three months.

She pulled on the maternity-sized cargo pants Ella had bought for her. The first day she had worn them, the Merry Men had taken one look at her belly and slowly backed away. Now they were all reading up on what to do in case she accidentally had the baby in the office. She would laugh, but their absurd level of preparedness has saved her ass more than once.

She was making faces at a bowl of bran cereal and drinking de-caf coffee when she heard the locks tumble on her front door. "Hey Joe," she yelled. On the nights he worked, he usually stopped by in the morning to check on her. They had a crib halfway set up, and he was going to finish it for her sometime this week.

But it wasn't Joe who appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. Ranger stared at her, his expression blank. "Expecting someone?"

Her mouth opened, but she couldn't seem to make sound come out. He slid out a chair at the table and dropped into it, his long legs stretched out in front of him. The silence in the room was thick, as she frantically raked her brain for a reason he would show up unannounced. But nothing was coming to her. Her mind was muddled by his presence - not just his sudden physical presence, but the way he seemed to suck all the oxygen out of the room only by walking into it.

The last time she had seen him, she had been terrified at the thought of never seeing him again. But as the months passed, she had started to think that maybe it would be for the best. "What are you doing here?" she finally managed to say.

"Can't I stop in and see my wife?"

She blinked. "Still an ass, I see."

He folded his hands over his stomach. "Still as fucking gorgeous as ever."

Her eyes flew to his. He wasn't smiling. In fact, he looked more distant and angry now than he had when he walked in. But god, did he look good. His hair had grown out farther, and was pulled back. He was dressed in his standard black t-shirt and cargo pants, but every muscle was outlined. A flash hit her of the last time they had been together: his hands over her skin, her mouth on his perfect chest, his ragged breathing in her ear. The sounds and feel of that night haunted her. She dragged her gaze from his chest to his eyes and found him staring at her, his eyes darkened with lust.

A flush covered her face at being caught and she jumped up from the table. She dumped the rest of her disgusting cereal down the sink and kept her back to him, trying to regain her balance. She barely resisted fanning her face to combat the heat searing through her at just the memory of his touch.

Over the past two months, he had never been far from her thoughts, even though she had tried desperately to forget him. She hadn't succeeded – had never really thought she could – but she had come to the rational conclusion that a relationship between them was impossible. The best she could hope for now was distance.

He spoke from directly behind her, making her jump. "I got an interesting call from my accountant yesterday."

She stiffened. That's why he was here. In spite of all her adult decisions about distance and space, her heart had leapt for one traitorous moment, thinking he had changed his mind about her. That maybe he hadn't stopped loving her as instantly and irrevocably as it had seemed.

"There a particular reason you're not cashing the checks I send, Stephanie?"

He was still standing too close. She shrugged and tried to appear blasé. "Sure. I don't need the money."

He glanced toward the dining room, where a changing table, baby dresser, and half a crib had already been set up. "You need more space."

"There's plenty of space. Now, if that's the only reason you're here, you can go. I need to go to work."

He crossed his arms. "What about medical bills. Insurance. Maternity clothes. There are plenty of things you could spend that money on."

"As you know, I have excellent insurance. And I don't need the money."

He kept staring at her. Well, he could keep staring, because she wasn't about to change her mind. It was bad enough that she worked for him. In reality, her salary was his money. But at least that money, she earned. Because of the baby and her job and this damn marriage, Ranger had complete control over almost every aspect of her life. She hated it. And taking his money would only tighten the net.

"What do you do with the checks?"

"I shred them." She smiled and then said as sweetly as she could, "I'd hate for anyone to get a hold of your bank account numbers."

His face darkened.

"I know this will come as a shock to you, but you don't control me, Ranger. I'm not cashing those checks, and I'm not spending the money. We're perfectly fine on our own, so you can just get back on a plane, and go back to Miami."

"I have a responsibility--"

"I know! You feel responsible. I married you, didn't I? You won. Congratulations."

He dropped his arms to his sides and took a menacing step toward her, though his voice never rose. "It's not about winning. You need more space. You need more security. You're going to need clothes and food and everything else, so take the goddamn money."

She rolled her eyes toward the ceiling and pursed her lips as if she were thinking it through. "Nope. Thanks though. Nice seeing you." She smiled brightly tried to brush past him, but he grabbed her arm and held her still.

"Stephanie," he all but growled. He yanked on her arm, and she landed squarely against his chest. She braced herself with her hands, hating at how her breathing hitched at the feel of those powerful muscles under her fingertips, and slowly looked up at him.

He was staring down at her. Tension was radiating from his body, but the look in his eye was pure lust. The moment stretched, and she held her breath, terrified to see what his next move would be. Half of her prayed his mouth would lower to kiss her, and the other half prayed he wouldn't. She wasn't sure she could handle the feel of his lips on hers.

His gaze was dark, boring into her. She wanted to close her eyes, to break the moment, but she couldn't. His head started to lower, and without any permission from her, her body leaned into him, seeking his touch.

"Fuck," he said. He shoved her away from him, so that no parts of their bodies were touching. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. When he opened them, his expression was perfectly calm and blank. No trace remained of the man who had been desperate to taste her.

"Come on, I'll drive you to work."

Disappointment she couldn't stop seared through her, but it was over more than the almost kiss. No matter what happened between them, he could go from hot and furious to cold and remote in a split second. There was a part of him he kept removed from her, one that she could never touch. It didn't matter that they were married and having a baby together - he would never let his guard down completely. Even that night in Miami...for a moment she thought he had. She had thought that his mask had finally cracked. But within minutes of it being over, he was back to being cold and distant. Cruel, even.

Her original thought was right - it would have been best if he had just stayed away.

"No thanks. I'll drive myself." She walked past him and grabbed her pocketbook from the couch. Just before she slammed the door, she turned back. "And by the way, I scrubbed the inside of your toilet with your toothbrush. And those protein shakes? There was two cups of sugar mixed in there." She smiled again. "See ya!"

She slammed the door and marched down to the parking lot. She gave the tire of her car a vicious kick before getting inside and slamming the door. And though she tried to keep her anger directed at him for showing up and disrupting her life, deep down, she knew she was more angry over her own reaction to him. She hated that desperate part of herself that had been begging for his touch.

…

Ranger stood in her kitchen and listened to the door slam behind her. He couldn't help smiling. He should have guessed she was wrecking havoc while she waited for him that night.

He sighed and scrubbed his hands over his face, disgusted with how he had handled that. So much for his good intentions. One glance at her face and every good intention he had flew out the window and all he could think about was fucking her. Worse, he wanted to stay, to just be with her, sex or not. Seeing his grandmother's ring on her finger wasn't helping clear up his jumbled emotions.

He shouldn't have come. He should have just called and fought it out over the phone. Though it probably wouldn't have made a difference. Steph was almost as stubborn as he was. While he was there alone, he looked around the apartment. It needed better security, and he was going to have it installed whether she liked it or not.

…

Steph watched the clock at work that day. Ranger wouldn't leave. It was his business; clearly, he had a right to be there. But he was driving her crazy. Every hour or two, he would walk past her cubby, to the kitchen or the break room or someone's office. Each time, she would stiffen, afraid he was going to say something to her about their earlier conversation. He never did though.

She told herself she wasn't disappointed.

At 5:03, she realized he and Tank were holed up in his office, and she used it as her opportunity to sneak out. She wasn't sure if Ranger was watching from the cameras in his office, but either way, he didn't stop her. She breathed a sigh of relief when she made it into her apartment and locked the door behind her.

She had meant to call Rachel from work that afternoon, but Ranger's presence changed her plans. She knew good and well that he didn't want the two of them communicating, and he wouldn't have reacted well had he found her on the phone with Rachel or Julie.

She made the call now, checking in and updating Rachel on her last doctor's appointment. Now that they had official confirmation that the baby was a girl, Julie got on the phone to start telling Steph all the names she liked. Currently, she was voting for Katherine.

Before she hung up, Rachel jumped back on the line. "Steph, Lilane called me today."

"Who?"

"Oh, Carlos' mother. I guess he told her generalities and that you guys were married, but wouldn't give her any contact information. I wasn't sure what you wanted to do."

"Uhh--" Steph stopped, not sure of her answer. It was one thing to go behind his back to talk to Julie - it was another to have a relationship with his mother. "I'd hate to see his reaction to that," she said. "But I also won't keep a woman away from her grandchild because he's upset."

"Well, maybe after the baby's born then."

"Sure," Steph said. "Maybe by then Ranger will be reasonable again."

There was a chuckle behind her. She gasped and froze. If he had heard all that...she spun around. But it was only Joe.

"Oh my god!" She put a hand to her chest and blew out a breath.

"Everything okay?" Rachel said on the phone.

"Yeah. Joe's here." She got off the phone with Rachel and glared at Joe. "You scared the crap out of me."

Joe grinned. "Sorry," he said, clearly unrepentant. "Who did you think it was?"

"Ranger. He's in town."

His grin dropped. "Want me to stay?"

She snorted. "You think I'm going to rearrange my life because he decided to grace us with his presence? Get real. But there is this matter of a crib--"

"I'm ready." He held up an allen wrench in one hand, and a bag from Pino's in the other. "This should be all we need."

"Nice!" She grabbed the food. "I'll eat while you set up the crib."

He rolled his eyes, grabbed back the food, and sat down on the couch. Two hours later, the crib was officially baby-ready and Joe left on a call. It wasn't until she was getting ready for bed that she noticed the new alarm panel by the door. The floor bolt was new too. Wandering around the apartment, she counted new locks and motion detectors on each window, and several things that looked suspiciously like cameras. She flipped off each, just in case, then dug her phone out of her bag.

"Are these cameras in my apartment?" she said when he answered.

"They're not on a continuous feed. They have to be activated, and they take snapshots every five seconds."

"Get rid of them."

"Not a chance." He hung up.

She went back to each camera and held up her middle finger for a full ten seconds, just to be safe. Her phone rang.

"Nice," he said when she picked up.

"I thought you said they weren't on."

"No, I said they had to be activated. I activated them."

"Turn them off."

He was silent for a moment. "They require a password to activate. There are two passwords, one for me and one for you. No one else can turn them on or see the images. It will only be activated if there's an active threat against you or the baby."

That information slowed her down. It actually was a good feature to have if, god forbid, the baby was kidnapped or anything else. "And you won't spy on me?"

"No."

Regardless of their current relationship, Ranger didn't lie. Ever. If he said no one else had access, then no one else had access. "Fine. They can stay."

"Good." He was silent again. She was about to hang up, thinking he already had, when he spoke again. "We didn't get a chance to talk earlier. How are you feeling?"

"Okay," she said. She was a little suspicious of where this was going. He wasn't the type to make small talk.

"Have you been to the doctor recently?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"And everything's fine. We're both healthy. Looks like I'm due on December 12th."

"Okay. I'll call again in a couple weeks and check on you. If anything goes wrong, or if you go into labor, call me immediately."

She nodded, forgetting that he couldn't see her, wondering what brought about the change of heart.

"Steph? Call me immediately."

"Oh, yeah. Sure. What changed your mind?"

"What do you mean?"

She sat down on the couch and pulled her feet up under her, cradling the phone against her ear. "I didn't think you cared."

"Of course I care. We just haven't been able to have a civil conversation in person."

"Tell me about it," she said. She leaned her head back on the couch and closed her eyes. The baby kicked, and she ran her hands over her stomach.

He was silent for another minute, and again she thought he'd hung up. Then he said, softly, "Bye, Steph."

Her heart flipped over. "Bye." She hung up and sat there for another minute, trying to figure out what that meant. Probably nothing. Still, it was nice.

…


	9. Chapter 8

_Thanks so much for the reviews! So, uh, I lied about getting back to the prologue in this chapter. It's tomorrow's chapter. I was confused :)_

_Still don't own them, make no profit, etc… Rating for language_

…

Three months later, Steph was sitting at her desk on a Friday afternoon when she felt the first real twinge of pain. Her back had hurt all day, but this pain - this made her sit up and wince. She held her breath for about thirty seconds, and the pain abated. She glanced at the clock and checked the time. Forty minutes later, the pain hit again. It was almost five, though, and she didn't think she could handle the Merry Men's protective instincts. They'd been overbearing for days now, in an adorable sort of way.

Without speaking to anyone, she simply gathered up her stuff and headed for her car. She probably shouldn't be driving, but by her calculations, she still had about 25 minutes before the next contractions. Plenty of time to get across town.

She made it to Joe's house in fourteen minutes. Letting herself in, she found him in the living room with a beer. He looked like he'd had a long day.

"Hey," she said, dropping heavily onto the couch.

"Hey, Cupcake. What's up?"

Steph ran a hand over her belly. "I think I'm in labor."

Joe jumped off the couch like he had been shot. "You're what? You're in labor? Why the fuck are you here? You need to be at a hospital!"

Steph laughed. That reaction alone had been worth driving over here. Joe was pacing around the living room, hands on his head, muttering.

"Relax, Joe," she said. "The contractions are still almost forty minutes apart. I have hours before I need to be at the hospital."

He stopped pacing and eyed her stomach with a determined stare. "Are you sure? I can drive you. We can go now, just to be sure."

She laughed again, but another contraction hit, making her lean forward in her chair. She gasped for air, but in just under a minute, her muscles relaxed. Joe was standing in front of her, panic written all over his face. "What was that? What do we do? Are you okay?"

She rolled her eyes. "Sit down. Drink your beer. I'd rather wait here than at home alone."

He cautiously approached the couch. "Maybe we should call the doctor to be sure."

"I'm sure. Didn't you read the baby books I brought over?"

Joe finally sat down beside her, though he was still eyeing her stomach. "Of course not. Did you really think I would?"

"I had hoped," she muttered.

"Should I, uh, should I call Manoso?"

She shook her head. Since he had found out she was pregnant, they had carefully avoided any mention of Ranger. They had spent a lot of time together, and Joe had helped her as much as he could. But Ranger was a discussion topic they didn't bring up.

"No. I can't deal with him and this at the same time," she said, patting her belly. She had decided that she didn't want Ranger anywhere around when she had the baby. As much as she appreciated his phone calls to check on her, that was as much contact as she wanted with him. His surprise visit three months ago only reinforced that they were better off apart. A relationship between them was impossible, and her heart couldn't take having him around, knowing that hey would never regain what they used to have.

"There has to be somebody I can call," Joe said. "I don't like having the sole responsibility here. I'm going to screw up and it's going to be me and Bob delivering this baby."

Steph laughed, forcing herself to banish her bleak thoughts about Ranger. She needed every ounce of happy she could get right now. "Mary Lou," she said. "Call her.

"Okay." He made the call, and then held the phone out to Steph when Mary Lou started squealing. Mary Lou had plans and lists and phone-trees and had put more organization into this than Steph had. But it also meant Steph could relax and be assured that all the right people would be called and her bag would arrive at the hospital.

Three hours later, when the contractions got close enough, she let Joe drive her to the hospital. "Are you sure you don't want me to call Manoso?" he said on the way.

Steph pointed a finger at him. "You call him, you die, Joe."

…

Ranger was sitting in an SUV Saturday afternoon, doing surveillance, when his phone rang. "Yo," he said.

"Hey man," Tank said on the other end.

He had been waiting for this call - Steph was due any day. "She in labor?"

"Already done. You got a baby girl."

A girl. "Healthy?"

"She's perfect, man."

"She was supposed to call me when she went into labor."

"Uh, yeah," Tank said. "It seems that she was already in labor when she left here Friday, and didn't bother to tell anyone. Morelli checked her into the hospital late last night, and she had the baby this afternoon. I didn't know until Lula called an hour ago, though I still don't know how she managed to keep her mouth shut. I guess in the delivery room, Steph was making all sorts of threats about anyone who called your or me.."

Of course she did. Ranger couldn't help smiling as let out a slow breath and closed his eyes. For a split second, his heart had lurched - a baby girl. Their girl - his and Steph. The need to see her, touch her was as primal as it was overpowering.

But he squelched it, just like he had squelched every feeling he'd had for Steph or this baby for five months. He couldn't afford not to, regardless of how badly he wanted things to be different.

"You coming up here, man?" Tank said.

"No." His hand flexed; his leg twitched. But he wouldn't. He couldn't. "No." He had planned on being there - he wasn't so big a bastard as to make her go through that alone. But now that it was all over, there was no point in going. He'd give her a few weeks, and then start the divorce proceedings. Maybe after that was over, he'd be able to be in the same room with her without wondering if everything he had worked for was slipping out from under him. Without wanting her.

It wasn't until he hung up with Tank that he realized he forgot to ask what Steph had named the baby.

…

Early Sunday morning, Steph woke to see Julie leaning over the side of her bed. "Hey," she said.

Julie's face broke into a wide grin. "Hey Steph."

"Did you see your little sister?"

Julie wrinkled up her nose. "She's kind of funny looking."

Rachel laughed from the doorway. "She's beautiful, Stephanie."

Steph managed to adjust her pillows enough to sit up in the hospital bed. She grabbed a cup of water nearby and took a sip to ease her parched.

"Did you _finally_pick a name?" Julie said.

"Yes. It's Olivia Katherine."

Julie squealed. "Ohh, I love it! And you used Katherine. Can I call her Kat?"

"Sure. I've been calling her Livy, but you can call her whatever you want."

She scrunched up her nose. "Hmm. I might like Livy better."

A nurse came into the room, carrying a bundle wrapped in a fuzzy pink blanket. "Look who's awake," she said.

Julie's mouth dropped into a perfect little 'o.' She watched, transfixed, as the nurse set Livy down on Steph's chest. Julie reached out and grabbed the tiny fist that was flying through the air.

"Do you want to hold her?" Steph said.

Julie's entire face lit up. "Yeah! Can I?"

Rachel directed Julie to sit in one of the chairs, and carried Livy to her. Julie was in love. She grinned down at the baby and patted her tummy. "Hi Livy," she said. "I'm your big sister, and we're going to have lots of fun together."

"How are you feeling," Rachel asked Steph, while Julie sat with the baby.

Steph shifted in her hospital bed. "I'm okay. Sore and tired, but happy."

"She has a beautiful skin color."

"Yeah," Steph said. In skin tone, Livy was almost as dark as Ranger. More than likely, she'd end up looking a lot like Julie. Steph glanced over at the two girls sitting together. She could definitely live with that.

"Where's Ranger?" Julie said.

Steph and Rachel exchanged a quick glance.

"He's still in Miami, Jules," Rachel said. "He's working."

Julie frowned. "But doesn't he want to see Livy?"

"I'm sure he'll get here as soon as he can."

"But when?"

"Julie," Rachel said. Her voice held a warning tone, but Julie didn't heed it.

"He didn't find out until yesterday, Julie," Steph said.

"We found out yesterday, and we got here. And he's the boss - he could leave if he wanted. He just doesn't want to see us."

"Julie." This time, she just glared at Rachel without saying anything else.

Before anyone could say anything to break the tension, another knock sounded and an older, Hispanic woman stuck her head in the door.

"Hola Abuela!" Julie said.

Steph froze and zeroed in on the woman. Crap. This wasn't going to be good. The woman smiled and said something in rapid Spanish that made Julie laugh. She stepped close enough to Julie to see the baby before she smiling at Steph.

"Hello, I'm Lilane Manoso, Carlos' mother. You must be Stephanie." She glanced around the room. "I'm guessing my idiot son didn't bother to show up?"

Steph immediately relaxed and smiled back. Mrs. Manoso had shoulder-length hair with only hints of silver, and skin too smooth for her age. She also had Ranger's smile.

"He's not coming," Julie said. "He's _working_."

"Julie!" Rachel said.

Lilane said hello to Rachel and gave her a kiss on the cheek before sitting down in a chair beside Julie. "He loves you, queirda. He's just not very good at it. But he'll get better." She kissed the top of Julie's head. "Now, are you going to introduce me to your sister?"

The bitterness dropped from Julie's face as she handed the baby to her grandmother. "This is Livy. Olivia Katherine. I picked the Katherine part."

Lilane gave Steph that brilliant smile. "What a beautiful name."

"Thanks," Steph said. She shifted the blanket over her lap, wishing that she wasn't lying in a hospital bed to meet her mother-in-law. But the woman's attention was on her granddaughter, and look on her face was that instant, rapt love that only a baby could produce.

"She's beautiful."

"She looks like me!" Julie said. "It's the eyes. Look!" Julie squatted down so her face was at the same level as Livy's so her grandma could see the resemblance.

They laughed and visited for an hour, with Steph falling just a little bit more in love with her new family. As they were leaving, Lilane mentioned Christmas. "Why don't you and Livy come to Newark for Christmas Eve, Stephanie?"

"Uh--" She glanced around, starting to panic. "I really don't think that's a good--"

"Nonsense," Lilane said. "Carlos hasn't been home for Christmas in years, the idiot. He'll never know the difference."

"Okay then," Steph said, grinning. "Christmas Eve."

"Can I come too?" Julie said. She was holding Livy again, and refusing to relinquish her.

"We'll talk," Rachel said.

…

An hour after they left, the onslaught of Merry Men began. They filled the room with flowers and balloons and passed around 'It's a girl' cigars. Livy was passed around for them to hold, but about half of the guys backed away with wide eyes.

"Hey beautiful," Lester said, poking his head in. "I brought something for you."

Steph groaned. "If one more person hands me a cigar--"

Lester grinned. "No way. This is way better." He walked to the bed and held out something small and black. Steph unfolded it and cracked up laughing. "It's her uniform," Lester said. It was a tiny black onesie, complete with cargo pockets. 'RangeMan' was embroidered across the top.

"Turn it over," Lester said. He was grinning like a little kid. Steph turned it over, and in silver letters, it said 'RangeBaby.'

"Oh, Les! It's perfect," she said.

"We came up with the idea, but Ella did the sewing."

"I figured," she said, mentally banishing the image of Lester sitting at a sewing machine. "Did you see her?"

"Yeah, she's beautiful, Steph. A little wrinkled, but definitely a cutie. She'll break hearts someday."

She pointed at him. "Keep your hands to yourself."

The door opened, and Joe ducked inside. He came directly to her bed and kissed her on the forehead.

"Hey," she said, smiling at him. "Did you get some sleep?" He had stayed overnight with her Friday night, and then worked all day Saturday.

"Yeah, I did. Did you?" he said, glancing around at all the people in the room. He nodded at Lester and Bobby.

"We're going to let you get some rest, Beautiful," Lester said, giving her a quick kiss to the cheek. "Bring her by the office soon, okay?"

She nodded and waved at the guys as they left. Then she leaned back in her hospital bed with a sigh. As fun as their visit had been, she was exhausted. Joe settled into a chair and flipped on the TV.

"You don't have to stay," she said.

He shrugged. "I'm on call, so I may have to leave, but for now, I'm good. Besides, you hate hospitals. I know you don't want to be here alone."

"True," she said. "And thanks. Though I have to admit I'm glad it's just you and me. There's been people in here all day. Ranger's mother showed up."

Joe swung to her, eyes wide. "Whoa. How'd _that _go?"

Steph laughed. "Not bad, actually. She was nice. And she called Ranger names, so that was exciting."

Joe's eyes got even wider. "Brave woman," he said, before turning back to the TV. "So when can you go home?"

"They said tonight, so I guess in a few more hours."

Joe nodded. "Do you have a ride?"

"Yeah. You," she said with a smile. "Would you mind? The other option is my father."

He winked at her. "I don't mind at all."

…

It took Joe four trips to the car to load up all the flowers, balloons, and gifts that had shown up. Steph had dressed Livy in her miniature uniform for her trip home from the hospital. It seemed fitting.

Steph glared at the wheelchair a nurse brought in.

"You have to do it, Cupcake," Joe said.

She sent another round of scowls around the room before settling herself in it and Livy on her lap. Joe pushed her, and within minutes, they were all loaded in the car an on their way to her apartment.

It wasn't until they made it upstairs and inside that Steph started getting nervous. "Uh, you're not leaving, are you?" she said.

He smiled at her. "I'll stay. You're mom's going to stay with you during the day and I'll be here at night."

"Oh good," she said with a sigh of relief. She had read all the books, but wasn't quite prepared for the helpless feeling of being the only one responsible for this little person.

"Go lay down, Steph," he said. "You still need all the rest you can get."

"Okay." She settled Livy in a bassinet beside her bed, and then climbed into bed to get some sleep herself.

She woke an hour later to the sound the baby fussing, disorientated in her exhaustion. Joe was at her back, his arm flung over her waist. She rolled over, curling into his chest, and managed an 'ughn.'

Joe's hand dropped to her hip and squeezed. "I'll get her." He picked up Livy from her bassinet and helped Steph get her positioned to nurse. And on it went, every couple hours, all night long.

Steph sat at the dining room table with her head laid on her arms the next morning. Joe, who looked almost as exhausted as she felt, was chugging his third cup of coffee. "Tell me it gets better," she said.

"Your guess is as good as mine," he said.

She sat up and glared. "You're not helping."

He grinned. "Just imagine what you'd do without me."

"Unh." She dropped her head back on her arms. "Don't even tease about that."

…

By the time Joe came back Monday afternoon, Steph was forgetting how wonderful she had decided her mother was.

"Steph, honey," her mom was saying when Joe walked in. "You can't forget to put powder on her when you change her."

"I know mom."

"And you need to lay her down as soon as she eats."

"I know mom." Steph rubbed her hands over her face and sank onto the couch.

"She needs to be on a schedule."

"She's three days old. I'm sure she'll be okay."

Her mother sighed and crossed her arms. "I know what I'm talking about, Stephanie. I've done this twice."

Steph didn't respond. Joe came over and dropped a kiss on the top of her head.

"How was your day, Cupcake?"

He had leaned forward enough that she could whisper without her mother hearing. "Get her out of here, Joe. For the love of god, get her away from me."

Joe kissed her cheek before straightening up. "Mrs. Plum, I'm going to stay tonight. Why don't I help you get your things together. I know your own family needs you this evening." Joe took her arm and led her to the door. Steph could hear snatched of their conversation, but didn't care enough to listen. She just wanted her mother gone.

A few minutes later, Joe came back in and sat down beside her on the couch. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him. "You okay?"

It was too much. She burst into tears and curled against him. It was the hormones, she told herself. That's all. Just too many hormones left over making her all weepy. She wasn't a crier by nature, but between her fatigue, her mother's 'help,' and stress over the baby, she just couldn't keep it all in.

"I'm so tired," she whispered.

"I know," he said, rubbing her back. Though he had to be tired too, she realized. He'd been up with the baby almost as much as she had.

"Why are you doing this, Joe?"

"Cause you need help. And you're my friend. And I love you."

Funny, that's what Ranger used to say when she asked him why he was helping her. Ironic how far the tables had turned in their weird triangle. "Well, thanks." She was quiet for a minute before saying, "I'm guessing that's a platonic kind of love?"

"It could be un-platonic pretty quick, if you're interested."

She poked him in the ribs. "I don't think so."

"You know what I mean," he said.

"Yeah. And I love you too, in a platonic sort of way."

He kissed her on the top of her head. "Good. But for right now, you need more help, mainly to keep you from killing your mother."

She groaned. "Oh god. She spent all day telling me everything I was doing wrong. I know she's just trying to help, but if she keeps it up, I'm going to lose it entirely."

"I think we need to call Manoso, tell him to get his ass up here."

"That's not help, Joe. That's torture. We'll just fight. I can't deal with him any more than I can deal with my mother."

"Is it really that bad? You guys have always gotten along well, even when it drove me nuts."

She sighed. "It's really that bad." She missed their friendship, missed his presence, more than she could ever explain to Joe. But they were both better off with half a continent separating them.

Joe was quiet for a minute before saying, in a light voice, "It's still got to be better than being married to the Dick."

A burst of laughter escaped her, surprising her. "Yes, much better."

The baby cried for the bedroom, and with a sigh, she extracted herself from Joe's arms and stood up. "Okay. I can do this."

He smacked her on the ass as she walked away. Joe may have been a jerk for cheating on her, but right now, she couldn't ask for a better friend.

…


	10. Chapter 9

_So I did not reply to yesterday's reviews, for which I sincerely apologize. But I have the flu, and I have about four minutes of energy, and I figured posting a chapter would be more appreciated. I'll make every attempt to respond tomorrow, I promise!_

_Still don't own them, make no profit, rating for language…_

…

Ranger bit back a sigh and put the car in park. Julie stayed slouched in the passenger seat. She had shown up at his office after school, and generally been such a pain in the ass that Ranger had decided to drive her home early.

"Mom said she wants to talk to you. You have to come in," Julie said. She huffed and crossed her arms over her skinny chest. She was still sulking, and he'd just about had it.

"I'll come in. But next time, I expect you to be in a better mood."

She kicked the underside of the dashboard. "You're not my father. You can't tell me what to do."

The words had a sharper impact than he was willing to admit, but he didn't let that show. "I _am_ your father, Julie, whether you like it or not."

The little girl's face scrunched up and her eyes filled with tears. She threw open the car door, but turned back to yell at him when he got out as well. "No you're not! You're not my father, just like you're not Livy's father. You've never even seen her! You don't care about either of us. I hate you!"

Ranger stood frozen, while Julie kept screaming that she hated him. She turned and ran past Rachel, who had come outside, and slammed the screen door behind her. He started after her, but Rachel stepped in front of him.

"Let her go, Carlos. And stop scowling. She's a teenager, what did you expect?"

He swallowed hard and focused on Rachel. "Does she really hate me?"

"Not yet."

The unspoken half of Rachel's words hit him square in the chest. _But she will_. He took a deep breath and tried to tell himself that it was for the best – that he should be limiting his contact anyway, but it did nothing to relieve the unexpected ache in his chest. "What'd she say that baby's name was?"

Rachel stared at him for a minute before answering. "Livy. Olivia Katherine."

The name echoed in his mind. His daughter - his and Steph's. "How did Julie even find out?"

"I took her to Trenton."

"You what?" This whole situation was getting more fucked up by the day. Steph had known he didn't want Julie to know about the baby.

"It wasn't your decision, Carlos," Rachel said softly. She turned and walked into the house. He followed and wandered through the tidy rooms, toward the kitchen in the back where he assumed she had gone. He could hear noises coming from upstairs, but stopped himself from going up there and setting Julie's attitude straight himself.

Rachel was chopping something in the kitchen. He approached her warily, knowing she wouldn't just let this go.

"You can't just keep spend time with her when it's convenient for you," she said, "and expect her to run for her daddy. She's too old for that now. She's not one your men you can just command to respect you and follow your orders."

"I don't command anyone to respect me. I earn it."

She stopped chopping gave him a pointed look. "Well, doesn't that tell you something?"

He sank onto a stool on the other side of the counter and ran his hands over his head. "You expect me to earn the respect of an eleven-year-old girl."

"No," Rachel said with a casual shrug. "I expect you to say that it's too much trouble, wash your hands of all of us, and have your accountant start sending monthly checks. I think you'll give Olivia a wide berth so you don't go through the same thing with her that you're going through now with Julie. And I also suspect that you're giving Stephanie more money than you give me, so you don't have to think about how you bailed on yet another wife and yet another daughter."

Ranger grimaced. The words hit much closer to home than he was willing to admit. "That's not fair. My job is–"

"It's dangerous," Rachel said. "I know. And when you and I were deciding custody ten years ago, I agreed with you. I thought distance was best for everyone. But then Julie was kidnapped and distance hadn't done any of us an ounce of good. In fact, it probably made the situation worse, because she wasn't prepared."

"That's my point. If I hadn't been here at all–"

"Then she would hate you even more. Little girls don't forgive daddies who walk out on them, Carlos. Ever."

"She has Ron."

Rachel shook her head. "It's not the same. They have a good relationship, and I'm glad of that, but it's not the same. And if Stephanie marries someone else and he raises Olivia, it won't be the same for her either."

Something fierce and protective ripped through Ranger at the thought of someone else marrying Stephanie and raising their daughter. He tried to shake it off - just another sign of how weak he really was when it came to her. He had no problem with Ron marrying Rachel and raising Julie because he hadn't loved Rachel and Ron was a good guy. But he loved Stephanie – "Fuck." He dropped his head and closed his eyes.

"You can't have it both ways, Carlos. Julie and Olivia are sisters, and Stephanie and I aren't going to keep them apart just because you don't like it. You either need to back away entirely, or actually be a father to both girls." Rachel glanced up at the ceiling as they heard more angry thudding noises coming from above. "But you'd better decide soon."

He sat there in the small kitchen, listening to Julie bang things around in her bedroom above them. Rachel was right – he had to decide. His head and all his years of training were telling him to walk away. That everyone involved would be better off without him in their lives. But he couldn't stand to do that.

He'd never been emotionally connected to Julie. He still wasn't. That lack had saved him when she was kidnapped, had kept him objective and able to work. But he cared deeply about her and wanted to be a part of her life. They had been spending more time together over the past six months, getting to know each other and form a relationship. It still wasn't an overly emotional attachment, but that seemed to suit them both. Whatever kind of relationship it was, he didn't want to lose it.

Little feet pounded down the stairs, and Julie appeared in front of him, her eyes red and puffy. She shoved a photo album-sized book toward him.

"Here," she said, anger coloring every word. "I made this. It's all the newspaper articles from when I was kidnapped. I showed it to all my friends and they thought it was so cool that you're my dad and that you saved me. But I don't want it anymore. I don't want you to be my dad anymore."

"I didn't save you, querida," he said, his voice horse. "You saved me, remember?"

Her lower lip started trembling. "Well maybe I shouldn't have." The second she said it, her eyes got wide and she clapped both hands over her face. Ranger watched as sobs broke from her tiny frame.

Rachel started to come around to comfort her, but Ranger shook his head. He set the book on the table and gathered Julie to him. Carrying her into the living room, he sat on the couch and pulled her into his lap.

"I'm sorry," Julie said in between hiccups. "I didn't mean it."

"I know, baby," he said. He smoothed her hair and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. She kept hiccupping and sniffling and the little arms wound around his neck as she clung to him were enough to make his heart break in two.

He glanced up at Rachel, and mouthed 'help me.' She just smiled and walked away. The fact that Rachel obviously trusted him to do the right thing didn't help him figure out what the hell he was supposed to do next.

"I'll make you a deal, Julie," he said. "As soon as Livy gets a little bigger, she's going to start staying with me some. Do you think, when that happens, that you can come stay too and help me take care of her?"

Her little body came up like a shot and she stared at him. She sniffed "I can come stay with you? We both can?"

"We'll have to talk to your mom and to Stephanie to work out all the details, but yes, I want you to come and stay. I'm not very good at being a dad, so you'll have to help me. That's the deal."

She nodded seriously. "I can help." She regarded him for another minute before saying, "I'm sorry I said I hate you. I don't."

He smiled at her. "That's good to hear."

She cuddled back into his chest for a moment, all traces of her earlier anger gone. When Rachel joined them in the living room, he lifted her up and set her on her feet.

"Why don't you go up to your room for a few minutes while I talk to your mom, okay?"

She made a face, but headed upstairs. Rachel sat down beside him.

"You did good."

He leaned his head back on the couch. "I hope you're right about this. How long has she known about the baby?"

"Olivia," Rachel corrected.

He glared at her.

"Since the beginning," she said, "Stephanie and I kept in contact after you two were here. Neither of us could see keeping the two girls apart so we've gotten to know each other. As soon as the baby was born she called us, and Julie and I got on a plane. Julie got to see Livy when she was only a few hours old. Big stuff at her age."

Ranger didn't even hear the last half of what Rachel said. "She called you?"

Rachel gave him a funny look. "Yeah. Why?"

It was just one of those days when the blows kept coming. He didn't know why it kept bothering him - all these people she called when she hadn't call him. First Morelli, then Tank, now Rachel. He shook his head and forced his focus back to the issue they were discussing. "Never mind. Are you okay with Julie coming to Trenton now and then?"

"Are you going to follow through? Or are you going to do this once and send her home? I'm not going to let you start something you can't finish."

"I'll follow through. We can start with short visits. Maybe next year she can spend part of the summer in Trenton or something."

Rachel nodded. "We can work that out. Can I give you some advice?"

"Nothing's stopped you yet."

She gave him a friendly whack on the arm for his sarcasm before standing. "Get yourself back to Trenton. Steph has a three day old infant at home. She needs help. Believe me," she said, giving him a dirty look. "I had to do it alone. It wasn't easy."

He stood up. "You're right."

"She loves you, you know."

"Julie?"

Rachel sighed like she was talking to the dumbest man in the world. "Stephanie. Don't mess this up. There's going to come a point where you can't undo it."

…

It was two thirty in the morning when Ranger pulled into Steph's apartment complex. Normally, he would break in without a thought, but he hesitated to do that without knowing her schedule or who was with her.

He approached her door and listened, but couldn't hear any noises to indicate that anyone was awake. Within seconds, he was inside the dark apartment. As soon as he shut the door behind him, a lamp in the living room clicked on. He didn't mask his footsteps, not wanting to scare anyone, and walked into the living room.

Morelli, who looked exhausted and half asleep, was sitting in a rocking chair with the baby bundled up on his lap. A wave of instant, instinctive jealousy washed over him at the sight of the cop holding his child.

He made eye contact with Morelli, who wasn't bothering to hide his scorn. "If you're not planning on sticking around, you can just leave now," he said.

He probably deserved that one. "I'm staying."

Morelli studied him for another minutes before finally standing and lifting the baby. He walked over to Ranger and held her out. Since Ranger hadn't been at the hospital, he hadn't seen the baby yet. But the very first sight of her was enough to erase every single doubt that had cropped up on the plane ride from Miami. He didn't want to miss out on his daughter.

He took the baby from Morelli and held her carefully. His attention was riveted on this tiny, squirming thing in his arms. She was awake, and staring up at him. Then her eyelids drooped and she was asleep again. He glanced back up at Morelli.

"She'll need to be fed again in an hour. Take her to Steph, and watch the time and write it down in the little book in the dining room. I don't know why, but the nurses at the hospital said to keep track. Steph will probably sleep through most of it. You'll need to change Livy's diaper, and write that down too. She just started really eating today, and she's been fussy about it, so you may need to walk her."

Ranger nodded. He was used to babies - maybe not this young - but hell, he could call his mother and wake her up if he really ran into a crisis.

"Steph's mom will be here around seven. Try to keep them apart. And watch out - Steph hasn't been sleeping much, and she's in a bitchy mood."

"I think I can handle it."

He barely noticed as Morelli left, his total attention still fixed on this little scrap of a person who was somehow already half him and half Steph. She was going to look like Julie - he could already see it in her eyes and nose. He wondered if she'd have Steph's curly hair. He hoped so. He sat with her in the rocking chair, content to just hold her.

Showing up in Trenton, though, didn't answer the question that had been hounding him since he'd left Rachel's. What the hell was he going to do about Stephanie? If he wanted a relationship with Livy, he had to have a relationship with Steph. And as much as he didn't want to love her - as much as he tried not to love her - he did. Ignoring it and denying it wouldn't make it any less true - the last five months of his life were proof enough of that. So the question was, what was he going to do about it?

He couldn't love her the way she deserved. To love someone - to truly love them - you had to open yourself up to them. You had to be vulnerable. And worse, it gave them power over you. He couldn't love Steph that much - he wouldn't - no matter how much his heart disagreed.

Because if his heart was right, then he already loved her that much, regardless of how badly he wanted to hold himself back.

There had been a moment, in Miami, when it had all almost come crashing down around him. When he had been inside of her and for a split second, been willing to sacrifice everything to be with her. To stay with her.

But she had stopped him and that was for the best. He couldn't be that man for her. He wished he could. God, he wanted to. But even if he knew how, not even for Steph would he allow that level of weakness in his life.

But that didn't mean he couldn't be with her – hell, they could even stay married. Before, he'd been almost content to walk away, let her find someone else who could love her better. Almost. He wasn't so much a bastard as to expect her to settle for what he could give her. But a child changed the playing field. He was no longer willing to be that noble.

He'd just have to be careful.

…

An hour later, right on cue, the baby started squirming, opening and closing her mouth and making sucking noises. Out of sheer habit from his nieces and nephews, he stuck the crook of his pinkie in her mouth to keep her from crying, and headed for the bedroom.

Steph was sprawled on the mattress, lying on her side, wearing only a bra and a pair of sweat-pants. Her belly was still swollen, but not like he assumed it had been a week ago. Her breasts, however, were significantly larger than he remember. "Lucky little girl," he murmured to Livy as he sat down on the edge of the bed.

Steph stirred as soon as he sat down, her arms instinctively reaching for the baby. Ranger nestled Livy against her, and she unclipped the top of her bra. Livy greedily started eating. Steph winced, even while rubbing the baby's back and holding her close.

"Does it hurt?" Ranger said.

She shook her head. "Not too bad," she said without opening her eyes. "I'm just sore."

They sat in silence for a moment, the only sound a soft sucking noise from Livy. "How long has it been?" Steph said.

"Twelve minutes."

"How long is it supposed to take?"

Ranger blinked. "I don't know."

"Come on, Joe. I told you to read the baby books."

He flinched. She still hadn't opened her eyes, and with him only whispering, it made sense that she hadn't realized Morelli had left. But before, they had always had a weird connection, one that always let them know when the other was nearby. He was surprised how much it bothered him to realize they had lost that.

Another ten minutes passed before the baby stopped eating. Steph shifted to sit up and lifted the baby to her shoulder. He watched, still astonished that he and Steph had created this little thing. Then his eyes drifted toward her face - she was staring straight at him, wide-eyed.

Her breath came in an audible gasp and she leaned back, away from him, pulling the baby tighter to her. "What are you doing here?" she said, her voice low and furious.

He cursed under his breath. It was the first time he had seen her in three months, and he hadn't stopped to think about how she would react to his sudden appearance. "I'm here to help."

"Well you can go. Joe's here, he's helping."

He kept his features carefully blank. "Joe left."

"Did he call you?"

"No."

She stared at him for a minute. "It doesn't matter. I'll call my mom, or Valerie. Either way, we don't need you to be here."

He didn't respond. "Is she done?" he said, holding out his hands for Livy.

Steph leaned down and broke the suction, but didn't hand the baby over. "I can do it myself." She started to scoot toward the edge of the bed, when she glanced down and realized her stomach was showing. "Shit." She grabbed the sheet and pulled it up over herself, covering Livy in the process. "Will you just get out?"

Rachel's prophetic words rang in his ears. Some mistakes were just too big to undo. But he had no intention of giving up without a fight, not when it came to his daughter. He reached over and snatched the sheet back off of her and took Livy out of her arms. Then he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, ignoring her stricken look and wide eyes. "Go back to sleep. You need the rest."

…

Steph sat in bed and stared at Ranger's retreating frame. She could hear him whispering to Livy as he headed for the changing table she had set up in the dining room. Her stomach dropped and she had to take a deep breath. He had just appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, after months of absence. If he thought for a split second that he was taking her baby away -- she was out of bed in an instant and following him to the dining room, pausing only to scoop a t-shirt up off the floor. Her mind raced ahead, leaving her body to its slow and measured steps down the hallway. But her abdominal muscles were virtually worthless in holding her upright so rushing out to confront him was out of the question.

Finally, with her mind cursing her body's slowness, she made it to the dining room in time to see Ranger rubbing Livy's belly, her clean diaper already in place. He lifted her, resting her tiny body against his chest.

"Ranger, I swear to god, if you think for one second that you can take her from me--"

"Stop." His voice was calm, but it wasn't the same bitter, controlled calm that it had been for the past few months. There was almost a hint of warmth in it. Almost.

"I'm not taking her anywhere, Steph. Sit down." He gestured toward the dining room table. "You look like you're about to fall over."

With a hand across her belly, she sank into the chair he had pulled out, her confusion over his appearance and motives making her compliant.

"Where do you want me to put her?"

She glanced up at him and blinked. Focusing on anything seemed almost impossible, between not having enough sleep and Ranger's sudden, startling appearance. "What?"

"She's asleep. Do you want me to lie her down?"

"Oh. Yeah. There's a bassinet in my room, by the bed."

Ranger headed that direction, rubbing Livy's back as he walked. Her heart clenched painfully - Livy's skin tone was identical to his. Even at that early of an age, with him holding her, she could see that the resemblance continued to more than just her coloring.

He disappeared into the bedroom, and Steph used his absence to grab the papers she had gotten from her lawyer the day before. She set the stack of papers on the dining room table, and limped into the kitchen to grab something to drink.

She grabbed an extra bottle of water, and handed it to him when he reappeared.

"Thanks," he said.

"We need to talk."

He nodded and followed her into the dining room. She waited until he sat down and pushed the stack of papers toward him. "I want a divorce."

…


	11. Chapter 10

_Sorry for the delay! I'm feeling much better, and appreciate everyone's kind words on the last chapter. I think I was able to go back through all the reviews, but if I missed you, know I appreciate your time reading and leaving reviews._

_Rating for language; don't own them, make no profit…_

…

"I want a divorce," she said.

Ranger stared at her, careful to leave his face blank. He supposed he should have known it was coming. Rachel was right - he was quickly approaching a point with Stephanie where he wasn't going to be able to undo the pain he had caused her. A point where forgiving him would simply no longer be an option.

Maybe he'd never be able to let her into his life entirely, but maybe - just maybe - it would be enough. But either way, no way in hell was she just walking away. Not without a fight.

He reached for the stack of papers and flipped through them. A few months ago, he had had his lawyers draw up papers that were remarkably similar in some instances – trust funds for education, medical insurance, security measures. But in everything else, they differed entirely. She wanted no child support, no alimony, and no settlement.

"There's nothing here for you," he said. "It's all for the baby."

"Olivia," she said.

He glanced up at her over the top of the papers. "Okay," he said. "It's all for Olivia. There's nothing in this settlement for you."

"I'm pretty sure that having an accidental baby doesn't entitle me to your money. It is quite generous for Livy and if you're not okay with that–"

He snapped the papers shut, cutting her off. "I'm fine with that. Why isn't there child support here?"

"Because I don't need it."

He kept his tone measure and his choice of words logical, even though all he really wanted to do was reach over and throttle her. "You don't have a legal right to waive child support."

Her eyes got wider. "What?"

He picked up a pen from the table and started scratching through things. "Because of the income disparity," he said, not looking up from the papers, "the court will award significant child support, probably in the neighborhood of five thousand dollars a month."

At her gasp, he looked up and stared at her. "That's Livy's money, not yours, and no judge will give you the right to waive that. If you're uncomfortable spending it on her, then put it in a trust fund. With interest, it would be several million by the time she's ready to start college."

He wanted to smile at the dismayed look on her face, but he had a suspicion that there was something deeper going on here that he wasn't understanding. Most women would be grabbing at the cash, and while Steph had never been materialistic, she wasn't stupid. Children were expensive. "What about a settlement? Why isn't that in here."

She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. "I told you. I don't want your money."

He sighed and started writing in the margins again. He had acquired two pieces of property during the course of the marriage. Jersey was an equitable distribution state, meaning that of what he had acquired since the wedding, half went to her. He wrote the address of a house about ten minutes outside the Burg, in a good neighborhood, and made a mental note to change over the deed.

"What are you doing?" she said. She jabbed her finger at the paper. "What is that?"

"It's an address, Stephanie."

She glared at him. "I'm not taking your money."

"You're starting to sound like a broken record. It's not money, it's property. And according to state law, it's your property."

"Well, I don't want it." Her lips were pursed and she looked dangerously close to stopping her foot.

"You're entitled to a settlement of your own, Stephanie. You're my wife."

She flinched. "I'm pretty sure that term doesn't apply to our situation."

_It will_, he thought. He raised an eyebrow, waiting to see if she would continue, but she kept quiet, that mulish look on her face. "I'm not okay with the custody and visitation," he said.

She nodded.

"I want joint legal custody."

Her head snapped up. "What?"

"All decisions about the ba–Olivia," he corrected himself when she glared. "All decisions have to be made jointly. Visitation can wait until she's no longer nursing, but I want it to steadily increase so that by the time she's in school, it's split evenly."

"Why?"

"She's my daughter, Stephanie. Do you need more of a reason?"

"No." She stood up. "Have your lawyers make whatever changes you want and send it back to me. I'm going back to bed. You can leave now."

He waited until the he heard the bedroom door shut. The locked clicked into place, causing him to smile. Like that would stop him. He finished making notes on the paperwork and then walked over to the couch and lay down to get a couple hours sleep. Whether Steph liked it or not, he was sticking around until he wore her down. Hopefully that could be accomplished before Livy went to college.

…

Ranger woke an hour later to the sound of the baby fussing. Instantly alert, he used his pocketknife to get into Steph's bedroom. It only took a second to pop the lock. Steph was out cold, and hadn't heard the baby yet. He wondered how much sleep she had been managing to get. Probably not much.

He scooped Livy out of the bassinet and cuddled her close. She wasn't crying yet, so he walked her around the apartment for a few minutes, trying to buy some extra sleep for Steph. But within moments, the baby's face was scrunched up and he knew the screaming was imminent. He sat down on the edge of Steph's bed.

She mumbled something and reached for the baby, again barely awake enough to nurse Livy, let alone realize who he was. She didn't react when Livy stopping sucking and fell asleep. He touched Steph's shoulder. "She's done."

She sat up and shifted the baby before she noticed him. "I thought I told you to leave."

He didn't reply. She kept glaring for a minute, but then she tilted her head back against the pillows and closed her eyes, as if fighting him took more energy than she could muster at the moment. He reached for the baby.

Steph glared and didn't relinquish her. "I don't need your help."

He ignored her and took Livy from her arms, and headed back toward the changing table in the dining room. He could hear Steph grumbling and following him, but he didn't acknowledge her. Steph was stubborn, but he was worse. And she had a short attention span - if he stuck around long enough, she'd get fired up about something else and forget to keep telling him to leave.

He got Livy changed and turned around to face Steph, settling the baby against his left shoulder. She was still so little that even with the heel of his hand under her bottom, his fingers supported her head. Her mouth opened in a yawn, and then she made some more sucking motions as she settled against his shoulder.

Steph had her arms crossed. "Can you at least give me a time frame for when you're going back to Miami?"

"I'm not."

She sighed. "Okay. Then how long are you planning on staying here?" she said, waving her arms around the apartment.

"As long as you need help." He kissed her on the cheek as he walked past to lie Livy down. "Get over it, babe. You're not getting rid of me that easy."

He heard her stifled gasp behind him and turned around.

"You, um," she swallowed hard and put a hand out against the wall. "You called me babe."

He hadn't realized he had stopped, or that it had bothered her. He walked back to her and, holding Livy with one hand, he used the other to loop around her waist and pull her to him. His lips brushed across her temple, then lingered, as he spoke. "No matter what," he said softly, "you'll always be my babe."

She sagged against him, and he cursed himself in his head for doing this to her. He rubbed her back and held her tight. After a minute, she stiffened, as if realizing she was still angry. She pulled back from him and crossed her arms over her chest.

He closed a gentle hand around her forearm pushed her toward the bedroom. He made sure she was curled back in bed, the covers pulled up to her chin, before lying Livy in her bassinet. He pulled off his boots and moved toward the other side of Steph's bed.

She eyed him suspiciously over the edge of the blanket. "What are you doing?"

"Your mother is going to be here in an hour. We both need all the sleep we can get before that happens, and your couch sucks."

"You're not sleeping here."

He ignored her and crawled in beside her. But he stayed on his side of the bed and within a few minutes, she relaxed.

"Why are you doing this?"

He tired to decide how much he should say. Finally, he just said, "Because Julie said she hates me and I'm a bad father."

"She's a teenager. I'm sure she didn't mean it."

"I know. But she was right." He turned to face her. "Rachel said I needed to either be a dad to both girls, or step back entirely. So here I am."

She regarded him seriously and for a second, he thought she was going to tell him to get out again. But then she said, "Good. I want you to have a good relationship with Livy. I want us to do the joint custody thing."

"Me too."

She studied him for another minute. Her eyes were shuttered, and her body was held stiff, as if she were bracing herself for something. "That explains about Livy, but what do you want from me?"

That was a question he wasn't willing to answer, knowing she wasn't ready to hear it. "I don't know, Steph. What do you want from me?"

…

She knew what she wanted - she wanted a divorce. What she didn't know is what the hell Ranger wanted. And why the hell had he shown up all of a sudden and decided to pick up parenting duties?

Her life had fallen into something that she loved. She had decorated her apartment and turned the dining room into a nursery, making the little space feel like home. Her job was good - the pay and benefits more than she needed, along with an environment she loved and just enough excitement to keep her from going stir crazy. And she had Livy.

For years she had put off making decisions about her life, terrified of making the wrong one. Joe or Ranger? Bounty hunting or the button factory? Burg housewife or Wonder Woman? But now those questions were moot. The cards had all been dealt. And while she might not have made the same decisions had she been forced to decide, she _liked _the hand she was holding right now. For the first time in her adult life, she was living a life that she loved.

And she'd be damned before she let Ranger or anyone else take that away from her. She'd give him visitation, she'd even give him joint custody, but she'd give him nothing of herself.

She looked up at him without flinching. "I want you to sign the divorce papers."

He stared at her for a minute with no expression before finally dipping his head in agreement.

Rolling over, she moved away from him and tried to get some sleep. But no matter how long she lay there, her mind wouldn't turn off. He had called her babe. It was a ridiculous endearment, but it was hers. For years, that word had warmed her, identified her, and comforted her. To hear it now, in his low, deep voice, after functioning for so long with only his indifference, pierced her heart.

And for one brief, traitorous moment, she had been desperate to hear it again. She had leaned against his hard body, taking all the strength and comfort she could get.

But no more of that, she thought as she tried again, unsuccessfully, to get comfortable. She had control of her life now. She wasn't handing that over to anyone, especially someone she couldn't trust to stick around.

…

_Thanks so much for reading! I'll go straight through now, one chapter each night from now until the last chapter on Saturday night._


	12. Chapter 11

_Thanks for all the reviews! Rating for language, don't own them, make no profit…_

…

At seven o'clock on the dot, an incessant knocking woke Ranger. Both Steph and the baby were still asleep, so he went to the door himself. He was still dressed, but barefoot. Mrs. Plum did not look pleased to see him.

"Who are you? And where is Joseph?"

He bit back his first reaction. "Detective Morelli went home during the night, ma'am. I'm Carlos Manoso, we've met before." He held out his hand and gave her his most charming smile.

Ever having the consummate manners, Mrs. Plum shook his hand. "That's right. You've come to dinner with Stephanie. It's very nice to see you again, Mr. Manoso. I'm here to help Stephanie now, so I can take it from here. Thank you for coming, though."

Ranger stepped back and let Mrs. Plum precede him into the apartment. She set her bag down on the dining room table, and went into the kitchen. When she noticed Ranger wasn't leaving, she turned to face him.

"I'm sure Stephanie appreciated your presence, but you can go home now."

Ranger crossed his arms and stared her down. "I'm Olivia's father, Mrs. Plum. I'm not going anywhere."

"No. Joseph is Livy's father."

For a split second, he wondered if Steph had lied to her mother. But Mrs. Plum continued. "You see, I don't particularly care about the biology involved. Joseph has been driving Stephanie to doctors appointments, helping her set up furniture. He's the one who drove her to the hospital and stayed with her while she was in labor. He was the first person to hold Livy, and he's the one who's been awake with her for the past two nights. He's changed her and fed her and taken care of her. In every way that counts, Joseph is Livy's father."

"I can do those things too," Ranger said.

"I'm quite sure that you cannot."

"You don't know anything about me, Mrs. Plum."

She looked right at him. Her voice was soft, but it carried an undercurrent of steel. "You hurt my daughter, Mr. Manoso. That's all I need to know about you."

He glanced away, knowing there was no defense for that. Steph was standing in the hall listening to them. She was far enough around the corner that her mother couldn't see her yet.

"I appreciate you marrying her," Mrs. Plum was saying. "It saved her a lot of grief here, and was a very responsible thing to do. However, Stephanie has Joseph now, and this is where your responsibility ends. I would be best for everyone if you would step back and let them live their lives."

His eyes were locked on Steph. She stepped around the corner and spoke to her mother. "Joe called him, Mom. He's Livy's father, and he has a right to see her."

"He didn't call me," Ranger said.

She looked surprised, even he had already told her that. "Well, he had been planning on it."

"I still think it's best if he's not around," Mrs. Plum said.

Ranger spoke to Steph, the words much harder to say than he expected them to be. "I'll hand over custody if that's what you want."

She held his eyes for what felt like an eternal moment before finally shaking her head. Something loosened in his chest. It wasn't a victory, but it was progress.

The baby started fussing from the bedroom, and Steph turned and walked away. He took a deep breath before turning back to her mother. "I would like for Steph and Livy to come stay with me," he said. "I have more space, and I can be there around the clock to help. Plus Ella, my housekeeper, can help out as well."

She thought for a moment before saying, "I don't like the idea, but you're right that she needs more space. I guess the decision will be up to Stephanie. But wherever she is, I expect to be able to visit."

Ranger smiled slightly. He wasn't usually a fan of Mrs. Plum, but he couldn't find fault with anyone who was willing to stand up to him in defense of Steph. "Of course."

She nodded. "Now that that's settled, I'm going to start on breakfast. Please go make sure doesn't forget to burp. She forgot yesterday."

…

Steph sat in the rocking chair that had been jammed in the corner of her bedroom, thinking through her mother's words. It was amazing, really, how many people she had on her side. A little awe-inspiring as well. As much as people harped on her about her job, or made fun of her, or bet on her - each of those people were one hundred percent behind her now.

For so long, she had thought that Ranger was the only person who truly supported her. She had been devastated when she lost that. And while it didn't make the loss any easier, it helped to know that she had friends and family behind her.

Ranger opened the door and looked in on her. "How's it going?" He closed the door behind him and leaned on it, crossing his arms and his ankles.

"Fine."

"It's been twelve minutes."

She nodded. To avoid looking at him, she glanced down at Livy.

"Has it been bad with your mom?"

She shrugged. "Joe's been handling it."

His face darkened, but he didn't respond. "She said to make sure you burp her after she eats."

Steph smacked herself in the forehead with the heel of her hand. "I've been trying to burp her! She won't. That's why she's been so fussy and why Joe was up half the night walking her." Suddenly, she realized that Joe must have been up with Livy when Ranger showed up during the night. She shuddered to think how Ranger would have responded to find Joe asleep in her bed.

As if he were reading her thoughts, his gaze moved to the bed. He looked back at Steph. She dropped her eyes, ostensibly to lift Livy and try to burp.

"Are you sleeping with him?"

She didn't answer. She wasn't - she was married whether she liked it or not - and he should know that about her. "I don't recall asking you if you're sleeping with anyone."

"I'm not," he said mildly.

"Not even Lucinda?" she said, drawing out the name. A belief flicker of surprise showed in his eyes before he masked it. "Julie told me all about the pretty lady who hangs around your office. Then she asked me what a prostitute was."

"Shit." Ranger ran a hand over his head. "And no, I'm not sleeping with her. Nor was I ever."

She pretended she wasn't relieved and moved Livy to the other breast. She winced, but the soreness was finally starting to lessen. The air in the room was filled with unsaid words and accusations. The sexual tension, never far behind, was there too. She tried to keep herself covered, but Livy was wiggling, and every time the blanket fell down, his eyes dropped her to her breast.

"You didn't answer," he said thickly.

"I shouldn't have to. You know me better than that."

He nodded and let the subject drop. But the subject he changed to, she was in no way prepared for. "I want you both to come live with me."

"Hell no," she said. He had been there less than twelve hours, and already the tension between them was thick enough to cut. This was the very reason she hadn't wanted him around in the first place. Just his presence was enough to start breaking down the defenses she had so carefully built up over the past months. Moving in with him would be suicide. Before she knew it, she'd be letting him control her again, handing over all her hard-own independence.

She'd be back in bed with him, too, she knew. In spite of everything, her hunger for him had never abated. God she hated that fact, the way her heartbeat went up just from him walking into the room, the way his dark eyes could compel her towards him with only a look.

"You'd have a break from your Mom," he said. " And I'd be there to help overnight."

She rolled her eyes.

"You'd have Ella."

Her head snapped up at the mention of Ella. Her stomach betrayed her - one mention of Ella and her heavenly food and ironed sheets and big, clean bathroom and she was ready to follow Ranger to the ends of the earth, consequences be damned.

His lips tilted up at her reaction, though his eyes didn't lose the calculating look. Bastard. He was playing hardball bringing Ella into the mix. "She won't badger you like your mom does," he said. "And your mom already said she was fine with it, as long as she could visit."

"That's not fair."

He smiled, a full smile that time. That wasn't fair either. He knew what that smile did to her. She could feel herself melting, softening. Screw that. She straightened her back, bolstering herself.

"No," she said. "As much as Ella tempts me, there's no way in hell I'm moving in with you."

"Okay."

She stared at him. He never gave in that easy.

"While your mom's here, I'll go pack a bag," he said, his cold eyes pinning her.

Shit. She wanted to punch the smug look off his face. "Why?"

"If you don't want to move in with me, I'll move in here."

"You're not moving in here!" She glared at him before moving Livy back down to her breast.

"You need help, Steph. You're stuck with me, whether you like it or not. Do you want to be stuck here with me and your mom? Or at RangeMan with Ella?"

"That's not fair."

"So you said."

She glared at him. The though of him moving in here was enough to make her suffocate. The apartment was too small, too close. Her full sized bed required them to sleep within touching distance. She wouldn't survive a day if he moved in here. And the worst part was, she knew from every interaction she'd had with him for the past few months, that nothing was going to change his mind. Not even the knowledge of how much it was going to cost her to have that much contact with him.

She would have told him to go to hell. But the reality was, she needed his help. She couldn't ask Joe to keep staying with her overnight - it wasn't fair. He hadn't slept in days, and he needed to be awake to do his job. And Ranger was Livy's father - she couldn't ask Joe to take on that responsibility when Ranger was willing.

And of course, there was Ella. When it came to taking care of people, Ella was the best. Ella would pamper her and help her get some rest. And as much as she loved her mother, moving in with him would avert the ever increasing likelihood of her killing her mother in her sleep.

Steph sighed. Her instinct was still to refuse, and then kick him in the shin. She was trying to straddle the fine line between doing what was responsible for Livy and hanging on her her pride and independence. It wasn't a balance she had figured out yet. "If I do this, it's because of Ella, and it's only temporary."

He nodded. "Until you're both sleeping more."

"And I want Joe to be able to visit too."

For a second she thought he'd refuse. His eyes darkened, and he stared at her, like he was assessing her motivations. But finally, he nodded. "He can't be on the fifth floor, but he can come up to the apartment."

She nodded, though the thought of giving into yet another of his demands rankled. But it would cost him a lot to allow Joe into his private apartment, she knew. To let anyone up there, really. "Why don't you go tell my mom, and she can start packing up the things we'll need while I lay Livy back down."

He continued staring at her with those blank, dark eyes. He straightened from where he had been slouching and stepped toward her. Her breath caught, anticipating his next move. She didn't like the glint in his eye as he leaned down toward her, and without meaning to, she leaned back, away from him. Smirking, he kissed her cheek and then the top of Livy's head. "Thanks, babe."

She glared at his retreating back and then lay a now sleeping Livy on the bed. Grabbing her phone, she dialed Joe. For once, she caught him at his desk. His voice was gravely with exhaustion.

"Ranger's here," she said.

"Yeah I know. He said he was sticking around, or I wouldn't have left."

"I, um, we're going to go stay with him. At RangeMan."

Joe hesitated. His voice was even more hoarse when he spoke. "Good."

"Joe, I'm--"

"You don't have to apologize, Steph. He's Livy's father, I understand."

"Still..." She trailed off.

"Still, I had hoped that this would end differently."

She didn't know how to respond to that, so she didn't. "He said you can come visit."

Joe hesitated again. "Okay," he said. "I will."

…

"Come on, Livy," she said, walking the baby around Ranger's apartment, a week later. She patted her back and kept walking, trying to get her to stop crying. Nothing was working. It didn't matter what position she held her in, how many times she paced around the room, or how often she burped her, Livy screamed.

The door opened and Steph groaned. No way could she handle a screaming infant and Ranger at the same time. When she turned back around in her pacing, he was standing in the room, watching them.

"How long has this been going on?"

"Over an hour."

"Here," he said, reaching for the baby. "Call Ella and have her bring up the vacuum cleaner."

"The vacuum?"

He shrugged. "My oldest sister swears by it."

Too rattled by the constant crying to protest, she called Ella and waited. When it arrived, Ranger sat down in the rocking chair with the baby and had Steph plug it in beside him. He flipped it on and started rocking Livy, and within a minute, the screaming slowed down. Another three minutes, and the only sound in the apartment was the roaring of the vacuum and the occasional hiccup from Livy. She was still fussing, but thank god the screaming had stopped.

Steph dropped onto the couch. "You're a genius."

He winked at her. "Why don't you try to sleep for a bit?" he said.

"I'm okay," she said. For once, it was true. The past week had passed in a fog of exhaustion, but her body was finally getting accustomed to sleeping in snatches. She and Livy had fallen into a schedule since moving in with Ranger, and Steph was actually starting to enjoy being a mom. Ella was a godsend, as expected, and helped Steph with everything possible. Her mom came during the day, but had finally backed off when she saw how competent Ella was. Joe dropped by each day after work.

For the most part, after making sure she had all the help she needed, Ranger kept his distance. He helped her through the early feedings until Ella arrived and then disappeared downstairs. He'd show back up when Joe left, and help her through the night.

The tension between them was as heavy as ever, but by unspoken truce, they were both keeping their mouths shut. And thank god, he was keeping his hands to himself.

They listened to the vacuum run for half an hour before he reached over and shut it off. Miraculously, Livy stayed asleep curled up on his chest.

"Ah bliss," she said, stretching out further on the couch. "How long can you sit in that position?"

He smiled at her. "I'm good."

She grabbed the remote and flipped through till she found a basketball game, keeping the sound down low.

"Did you eat dinner?" Ranger said.

"Yeah. You?"

He nodded. Silence descended again, and she realized uncomfortably that this was the longest they'd both been awake and in the same room since she moved in. She was tempted to go into the bedroom and lie down, just to avoid him.

"You should have called me," he said.

She glared at him, instantly on the defensive. "When?"

"When she started crying."

"I didn't realize you had the magic touch," she said dryly. "Next time I'll know what to do."

"The point, Stephanie, is that you need to call me when you need help." His voice was tight.

She just rolled her eyes and looked back at the game.

"When will she need to eat again?"

Steph shrugged. "Whenever she wakes up."

He didn't respond. She shouldn't be such a bitch, she knew. But each time they were alone together, it just came out. Part of it was latent anger at him forcing to move in, and part of it was just plain defense. Ranger had a way of getting under her defenses if she let him. She had let him before, and look what happened. Not something she'd let happen again, no matter how many nights he got up to feed Livy.

They watched the Knicks run around the screen, and Ranger kept rocking Olivia. As soon as she started fussing, Steph swapped places with him, and nursed her.

"I'm going to run through the shower. You're watching your time?"

She rolled her eyes. She'd only been doing this every two hours for two weeks. He ignored her and headed for the shower, while she focused back on the baby.

"You're daddy's an ass, Livy," she said. But her heart flipped over as soon as the words left her mouth. She had never thought of Ranger that way - as Livy's daddy. A little girl needed her daddy, and Ranger made a good one when he put effort into it. But that was as far as she was willing to take it.

…


	13. Chapter 12

_This is one of those boring but necessary chapters to set up the final chapters – it's not my favorite, but hopefully you all like it. For those of you who read early drafts of this story, this chapter is new. _

_Don't own them, make no profit, rating for language…_

…

Steph stared at the rapidly filling kitchen sink and tested the temperature again. Today Livy had her two week check-up, and the doctor had cleared her for baths. The doctor had also said that the screaming the night before was only the beginning, and to get used to it. Great.

She stripped Livy down, but hesitated. She should have thought to do this when her mother or Ella was present. Anchoring one arm behind the baby's head, she tried to lower her into the water. Immediately, Livy wiggled and slipped out of Steph's fingers.

Steph smothered a scream and grabbed for her, but the baby's wet skin was slippery. Terror filled her, growing each time her fingers slipped again. It took three tries to haul her out of the water, and by then Steph had stopped breathing entirely. Livy was no worse for the wear, her head never having gone all the way underwater, but Steph was left shaking and gasping for air, her heart pounding out of her chest. She wrapped a towel around the wet baby and rested her head against the upper kitchen cabinet.

"Okay," she said aloud. "No harm done." She wiped at her damp eyes with the sleeve of her sweatshirt and tried to work up the nerve to try again. It had only been the slightest of seconds that her hands hadn't been on the baby, but in her mind it had stretched to horrific proportions. She sniffed and took a deep breath.

"What's wrong?"

She flipped around at Ranger's voice. "Nothing," she said, trying to appear calm. "I was just going to give her a bath--" To her disgust, her voice cracked and her eyes filled with tears. She blinked them back. "Sorry, I'm just tired."

His glance moved between the baby and the sink. "She slippery?"

Steph sagged. "Yes, and I dropped her and it was only for a second but I--"

"Here." He stepped toward her and took the baby, unwrapping the towel from around her. "You have to hold her armpit, like his, or you'll never hang on to her. Watch." Ranger snaked one arm behind her hand and under her arm, supporting both at once. He lowered her into the water, and ran the washcloth over her chest and stomach. "You want to try?" he said, turning to look at her.

She wiped her sleeve over her eyes again and nodded. "How'd you know that?"

"Big family." Without letting go of the baby, he motioned for her to step between him and the sink. He helped her get her arm in the right position, but he stayed where he was.

He was behind her, his arms on either side of her, his hands resting on the sink. In an attempt to ignore his presence, she focused on Livy. The hold she had on the baby worked this time, and she ran the washcloth over her tiny body.

Ranger's hands dropped to her hips. "You're doing good," he said, his mouth too close to her ear.

She stiffened. Her instinct was to flee, but with the baby, she couldn't do that until she finished. "Thanks," she managed to say.

His fingers flexed on her hips, but he still didn't move back o r give her any space. She started moving the washcloth faster, trying to get the job done. Livy's hands splashed in the water, making her smile in spite of her uncomfortable position. Finally, though, she was done. She lifted Livy from the water, but the gesture forced her to take a step back - landing her square in Ranger's chest. His arms came up around her and he took Livy, wrapping a towel around her and setting her on the counter, effectively pinning her between them.

Her breath came in a gasp. "I need to--"

"You're fine."

He ran the towel over Livy's hair, over her hands, her feet. His movements were slow, gentle, taking extra care to dry each part. It was impossible for her not to lean against him due to their positions. She tried to stay stiff, to not relax against him, but his warmth, his scent - it all surrounded her. His face was so close to hers that she could feel his breath fanning her cheek. Had they been a normal couple, it would have been a perfect, intimate family moment.

But they were nothing of the sort.

She pushed on his arm that was pinning her. "I need to get her diaper and clothes. Let me go."

He was starting at her profile - she could feel it but didn't turn to look. Finally he lifted his arm and let her go.

…

"What are your plans for Christmas?" Ranger said, walking into the living room where Steph was rocking the baby, who for the moment, was blissfully quiet.

"Uh--" She didn't know how to answer that. It was the 22nd of December, and she had every intention of spending Christmas Eve with his mother - as far as he knew, she had never met his mother.

He raised an eyebrow.

"I'm going to my parents early on Christmas day, and will probably stay until early afternoon."

"What about Christmas Eve?"

Her heartbeat kicked up. "Why do you ask?"

"Julie just called. She wants to fly in tomorrow and have me take her home Christmas morning. She wants to go to my mother's for Christmas Eve."

Steph nodded. Julie had called her first, but there was no need to let Ranger in on that.

"My mother would like for you and Livy to come too."

Steph waited, to see if he would add to that. He didn't. "What do you want?"

He shrugged. "I haven't gone in years. But with Julie..."

That wasn't what she had meant and they both knew it. "Sure, I'll go." Since she was feeling peevish, she added, "Your mom has been wanting to see Livy again anyway."

His faced darkened and she had to quash a smile at her small victory. "Explain," he said.

"What's there to explain? That the important people in Livy's life actually showed up when I gave birth?"

"You didn't call me."

She rolled her eyes. "Tank called you within an hour."

"The point, Stephanie, is that _you _didn't call me."

"No, the _point,_ is that you didn't come, regardless."

"I was working," he said, his voice tight.

"Yeah, even Julie didn't buy that."

A muscle in his jaw twitched, but he didn't bite. "Would you like to come with us to Miami on Christmas Day? My Aunt Sarah was hoping to meet you."

Frowning, she tried to remember why that name sounded so familiar.

"She's married to Judge Melendez. My Uncle Jiame."

Oh right. Him. "Will he arrest me if I don't come?"

"Is that a no?" he said, ignoring her sarcasm.

She glared. "I am so not spending Christmas with that man."

He stared at her for a minute. Then he seemed to let out a breath. "I'm trying, Stephanie."

She didn't know how to respond to that. Statements like that sent too many jumbled emotions soaring through her - emotions too suspiciously like hope to be tolerated. "Well you can stop trying."

…

Steph was nursing the next afternoon when Julie came bounding in in front of her dad. "Hey Steph!" she said. She rushed over the to the rocking chair and tickled Livy's foot. "Hi Livy."

The baby didn't react, more interested in food than her big sister. "She's so much bigger!" Julie said. "How old is she now?"

"Three weeks. And she's going to cry a lot, so I hope you brought ear plugs."

"I'll be okay," Julie said. "I have two little brothers. They were both screamers. So, what are we going to do today?"

Steph gave Ranger a panicked look. "I don't know, Jules." She hadn't slept more than two hours at a time in weeks. No way did she have the energy to keep up with an eleven year old.

Ranger spoke up, saving her. "Your mom said you still needed to do some Christmas shopping."

"Yeah."

"Well, why don't we go to the mall in Newark. We'll take the baby with us and leave her with Abuela while we shop and then we can have dinner at her house."

"Okay!"

Steph almost wept in relief. She would have four, maybe five hours alone. She could sleep. "That's a brilliant idea. There's bottles in the fridge you can take."

Ranger dropped a kiss on the top of her head as he walked past. "I'll get Livy's stuff together. Julie, why don't you put your bag in my office."

"Where am I going to sleep?"

"On the couch. It's a pull out."

Stephanie looked up at him. "It's a pull out?" She had spent more than one night on that couch without it ever being pulled out.

Ranger winked at her. "I was trying to make you uncomfortable so you'd move," he said.

She glared, but her heart wasn't in it. Ten minutes later, the three of them were out the door, and she was left in silence. Glorious silence and hours and hours of uninterrupted sleep. She chucked her clothes, slid between Ranger's amazing sheets, and was out in a matter of minutes.

She awoke fuzzy, because for the first time in weeks, it wasn't to the sound of a baby crying.

"Steph."

She blinked and squinted at the doorway. "Joe?" She sat up halfway. "Hey."

"Where's Livy?" he said.

Steph blinked again, her mind still muddled with sleep. "Uh, Ranger took her and Julie to Newark for the afternoon." She rubbed her hands over her eyes and crawled out from under the covers. "What's up?"

He glanced around the room. "I just stopped by, and got worried when I couldn't find the baby."

"Oh, thanks." She grabbed a t-shirt, yanked it on, and stumbled past him to find the coffee pot. "This is the first time I've been alone since I had Livy. Can I tell you how wonderful it's been?"

"Have you been asleep the whole time?"

She grinned at him over her coffee mug. "Oh yeah. What time is it?"

"5:30. I just got off." He poured himself a mug and sat on the bar stool beside her. "When will they be back?"

"Not before eight. Is it weird to already miss her?"

He leaned over and nudged her shoulder with his. "Nah. Wanna get out of here?"

"Yes." Her eyes widened as she realized it'd been almost a week since she'd stepped foot outside the building. "Yes! Can we go to the mall? I need to get a Christmas present for Julie."

…

She was still laughing when she stepped off the elevator. Joe had gotten roped into spending part of the night before keeping an eye on the drunk tank, and was repeating the worst of it for her.

As she reached for the apartment door handle, it swung open from the inside. Ranger's blank stare confronted her, freezing her laughter. She glanced back at Joe before facing Ranger. "Hi. How'd it go?"

Julie ducked around Ranger into the hallway. "Hey Steph!" She looked at Joe and cocked her head. "Weren't you Steph's boyfriend?"

The tension in the small hallway went up one more notch. "I was," Joe said. "Now I'm her friend."

"Oh." Julie said. "Where'd you go?"

"Christmas shopping."

Julie grinned and zeroed in on the bags. "Can I see?" She lunged for one, but Joe was quicker. Laughing, he pushed the bags behind him.

Steph finally gathered up enough courage to turn from Joe and Julie to face Ranger. He was staring at her, his gaze blank. There was tension around his eyes and his mouth. But before either of them could say anything, Livy cried from inside. "Excuse me," she said, sliding past Ranger into the apartment.

"Julie, go with Steph," she heard Ranger say.

"Jesus Christ," she muttered. She scooped up Livy and went back to the door, trying to head off disaster. Ranger was setting her bags inside the door of the apartment. "Ranger, don't you dare--"

"Dare what?" He raised an eyebrow. "I'm not going to challenge him to a duel."

She glanced back and forth between both men. Some of the tension had left Ranger, but she couldn't read anything else. Joe just looked amused.

"Bye Cupcake," Joe said. He stepped forward and kissed her on the cheek, then rubbed Livy's tummy. "Merry Christmas."

He and Ranger both got in the elevator. Steph started to follow, just to make sure that Ranger didn't act like an ass, but Livy scrunched up her face and screamed. She glanced between the elevator and the baby. Finally, she headed back into the apartment. "Julie, think you can help me out?"

…

The elevator descended in silence, both men staring straight ahead.

"Look man," Morelli said, "You two have a family now. I have no intention of messing that up. You're doing a fine job of that yourself."

Ranger cut his eyes to the cop. "Got any ideas?"

Joe snorted. "If I knew how to deal with Steph, she never would have been with you. I do know that telling her what to do never goes well."

"Yeah." The elevator dinged as the doors opened into the parking garage. The cop headed for his car. Ranger hesitated before speaking. He didn't like being indebted to anyone, but once he was, he didn't forget it. "I appreciate what you did for Steph and Livy while I was gone."

Morelli paused and turned back. "I gotta say, Manoso, I had been hoping you weren't coming back."

"I think Steph was too."

Morelli turned like he was done, but then said, "Just so you know, if you walk away again, I won't make it this easy for you."

Ranger nodded and got back in the elevator. He had no intention of letting that happen.

…

Ranger pulled up in front of his mother's house and put the car in park. It was a two-story, brick row-house. He had tried to buy her a new house when he started making money, but had to settle for paying off this one instead.

He unhooked Livy's carrier from the car seat and threw a blanket over her before catching up with Julie and Steph halfway up the walk. Steph shot him an apprehensive look over her shoulder. He winked at her and opened the door for them.

The first thing that hit him as he walked in were the Christmas decorations. His mother had decorated the same way since he was a kid, instantly transporting him back in time. Julie squealed and ran after one of her cousins.

Steph took Livy from him, pulling her out of her carrier. "Come on," he said. "I'll introduce you around." They found his mother in the kitchen surrounded by pots and pans. He hadn't told his mother he was coming, hoping to surprise her. It had been at least ten years since he'd been present for the traditional Christmas Eve dinner.

He stepped into the small kitchen first. "Feliz Navidad, Mamá"

His mother glanced up and gasped. She clapped a hand over her mouth as tears filled her eyes. "Carlos!" Rushing to him, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek. "You came! I'm so glad." She squeezed him tight, and planted another kiss on her cheek.

Then noticed Steph behind him. "And Stephanie!" She kissed Steph too and took the baby. "Oh look how fast she's growing!"

His mom wiped her eyes with her free hand and smiled at him. "Thank you, Carlos," she said. "I can't tell you what this means to me that you came."

He walked to her and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Julie here's too, though I don't know where she ran off too."

"I knew Stephanie and Olivia were coming, I didn't realize you two were coming as well."

He looked over at Steph.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh get over it."

His mother laughed and patted him on the cheek. "It doesn't matter. You're all here now. Now go get one of the girls to finish dinner while I sit here with my newest grand-baby."

…

He kept an eye on Steph over the course of the evening, but she didn't seem as nervous as she had been when they arrived. The baby was passed around while she chatted with his sisters. He was catching up with Celia's husband when he realized she had disappeared.

He found her in the formal living room, where they had opened presents, with his mother and Julie. The sight in front of him mesmerized him - he stood in the doorway and for a moment, just watched. Steph was on the couch, nursing Livy. Julie was on her knees on the cushion beside her, tickling the baby. Steph winced when Livy's entire body jerked from Julie's tickling. Laughing, she stuck her finger in Livy's mouth to break the suction and lifted the baby to her shoulder.

She was still laughing as she looked up, that brilliant smile hitting him square in the chest. Their eyes met, connecting them across the room, and for that one second she looked so fucking happy that it made his heart constrict. He couldn't help smiling back.

But he could see the exact moment when she remembered all the shit between them: her eyes shuttered, her smile slipped. He'd have given anything in the world to take away the sadness that crept into her eyes. In that instant, he would have given himself.

She blinked and lowered her eyes. Turning away from him, she said something to his mother and handed her the baby. She stood and walked toward him. He wanted to say something, needed to say something, to her. But she ducked her head and slipped past him.

He caught up with her in the foyer, stopping her with a hand on her arm. "Steph."

She glanced at him, but then her gaze dropped to her shoes.

"Babe."

She sighed and met his eyes, defiant now. "What?"

"Mistletoe," he said, praying that his mother still hung it in the foyer like she had when they were kids.

She glanced up and froze, her gaze slowly sinking back down to meet his. Yanking on her arm, she tried to escape his grasp. "Right. That's gonna happen."

He moved fast, hauling her body into his arms. He kept his hold light enough that she could have gotten away, but the moment their bodies touched, she stilled in his arms. She stared at him with wide eyes as his head lowered. He paused, his lips a millimeter from hers, so close they almost brushed as he spoke. "Merry Christmas, babe."

And he kissed her.

…

His lips brushed across hers, soft, gentle. There was a tenderness to the gesture that she had never felt from him. He drew back after that contact, not far, but enough so that he could stare into her eyes. He was searching for something, but she had no idea what.

Their bodies were touching in an unbroken line: her breasts were pushed against his chest, her hips against his, his knee between her thighs. She could have walked away - she should have - but there was something in his eyes holding her where she was.

His mouth lowered again, demanding more of her this time. Without meaning to, she gave it. She stood up on her toes, leaned into him, and savored the feel of his lips against hers. His hands brushed her hips, then slid up her spine. It wasn't until his hand came around to brush the side of her breast that she realized what she was doing.

She jerked back and stared at him. She wanted to read something in his expression, but she couldn't. His arms were still around her, but when she stepped backwards he let her, dropping his arms to his sides. "That was dumb," she said.

He kept staring at her.

She scrubbed her hands over her face, trying to erase the feel of his mouth. "That was really dumb."

…


	14. Chapter 13

_Thanks so much for all the reviews to the last chapter! Still don't own them, make no profit, rating for language…._

…

Steph collapsed into bed. Livy was still crying. It had been three straight weeks. The vacuum was the only thing that worked, and Steph was going to go deaf from listening to it. Poor Ella had had to go buy another one so that she could still clean the building.

She flipped over on her back and tried to get comfortable. Ranger was rocking the baby, and Steph had every intention of using this precious time to sleep. But sleep wouldn't come. Without even meaning to, she rolled onto her right side and looked at his side of the bed. Her hand slid out over the smooth sheets and rested on his pillow.

They had been sharing a bed for a month now, but it was big enough that they could keep to their own sides. And with the baby, it wasn't often that they were both in bed at the same time. Still.

The fights between them, while unresolved, had been banked - set aside while they were sharing a small space. The tension, however, was ever present. It was there in the way she'd catch him looking at her before he masked his expression. In the way his hand would brush across her breast as he handed her the baby to be nursed. In her anger that still simmered just below the surface.

And god she wanted him. The feel of his lips on hers at his mother's house haunted her. It was becoming harder and harder to hang onto her resolve. But she had to. A few more weeks, and she had Livy would go home. Alone. As much as she wanted to trust him, it wasn't a mistake she'd make again.

"She's asleep," Ranger said, coming into the room.

She snatched her hand back from where it was still on his pillow. If he noticed, he didn't say anything. He stepped into the dressing room and reappeared a second later wearing only a pair of low-slung boxers.

"I figure we've got an hour," he said as he crawled into bed beside her.

She scooted back, away from him. She closed her eyes, but sleep was even more evasive now than it had been. The soft expelling of his breath grated against her nerves like sandpaper. The faint shifting of his fingers on the sheets reverberated in the silent room like a gunshot.

Of their own volition, her legs shifted, trying to give vent to the restlessness growing in her. She had the ridiculous urge to jump out of bed and run from the room. Or maybe just from him. His hand slid across the mattress and grabbed hers. Her whole body flinched in a startled response.

"Go to sleep," he said.

"I'm trying!" She knew she was being peevish, but was too annoyed to care. "Did you send those papers to your lawyer yet?"

He let go of her hand. "Not yet."

"Well, hurry it up."

"Are you trying to pick a fight?"

Yes. "No. I'm trying to sleep, and you're distracting me."

His gaze sharpened on her and grew dark. Before she knew what was happening, he had pulled her into his arms, tight against his body. His knee was tucked between her legs, instantly creating friction against her. She gasped.

"What kind of distraction?" he said, his low, low voice sending shock waves through her body.

She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think, either. Not with his body pressed this tight, not with his hand sliding down her back, then along her hip. She closed her eyes, trying to block out the sensations, but that only heightened them. His hand closed around her hip and squeezed, his fingers digging into her flesh and shooting sparks of desire through her.

He was still staring at her, his heated gaze boring into her. "This kind of a distraction?" he said.

Her mind was too muddled to decipher his cryptic warming before his mouth lowered, his lips brushing against hers. For an instant, she lost herself in the tender gesture, just as she had done last time. But only for an instant. She tried to pull away, but his arms were bands of steel around her, giving her no chance for retreat. His mouth descended again, this time demanding more than a simple brushing of lips. The contact was harsh, his tongue forcing its way between her sealed lips, into her mouth.

She tried to move her head away, to escape the possession of his tongue, but more to escape the heat that she could feel growing. Her heart was pounding, and she was quickly loosing all reason or any ability to flee. Her instinct was to rub against him, to press her body so closely to his that they joined. She almost did. His mouth slid along her jaw and without meaning to, she arched her back and tilted her head, granting him access.

But then everything came rushing back to her - this myth of a marriage that he had forced her into, the spiteful anger that had been pouring from him for months, the fact that he didn't love her. And most of all, the knowledge that she was a millimeter away from handing herself over to him, body and soul. That would be fatal.

She shoved at his shoulders and wiggled her legs free. Her knee had a clear shot to his crotch, but an inch before it slammed against him, he caught her knee with his hand.

He wrenched his mouth away from her body. "That would be a bad idea." His voice was cold and low.

"Then keep your hands to yourself." She jumped out of bed and grabbed a sweatshirt to yank over her head. "You seem to be having a problem understanding consent recently. Well guess what? This is me not consenting!"

He stood and walked toward her. His eyes were flashing, and there was a muscle twitching in his jaw. He loomed over her, stopping only when his face was an inch from hers. "Who are you angry with, Stephanie? Me?" He slid his hands down her stomach, on the outside of her sweat pants, until he cupped her. From one kiss, she was hot and wet and throbbing. "Or you?"

Livy started crying from the other room. Without responding, she turned and rushed from the room, away from him. She gasped for air as she grabbed Livy from the bassinet by the rocking chair and cuddled her close. "You have the most wretched man on earth for a father, Livy."

She heard his low chuckle from the bedroom doorway, and without looking back, flipped him off over her shoulder.

…

He turned and went back to bed, leaving Steph to nurse Livy. He hadn't even meant to kiss her. The baby was only a month old, it wasn't like she could have sex. He had come up with a plan when it came to Stephanie: be there for her and the baby, help her. Basically ingrain himself in her life until she forgot they were supposed to be filing for divorce. And give her enough space that she forgave him.

The plan was full of holes, and he couldn't tell if it was working. One minute she seemed to be softening, and the next she was biting his head off. Now and then he'd catch her looking at him, her eyes so full of disappointment he could barely stand it.

But he had no intention of letting her walk away, letting her divorce him. It was as simple as that. It was probably cruel, but that's just the way it was. Another sign that he was weak where she was concerned - he'd been able to walk away from every woman he'd ever met, and had been sure he could have walked away from her if necessary. Now he knew that wasn't possible. He wanted her - needed her- more than he should.

It wasn't only Steph's resolve that was slipping.

He forced himself to go to sleep. He hadn't had more than two hours of sleep at a time since Steph and Livy moved in - neither had they - but he was used to it. He could command his body to go to sleep at any time, and wake up fully rested, even if it had only been an hour or two.

He woke when Steph came to bed, but only long enough to ascertain that there was no threat before instantly falling back asleep. Three hours later, Livy cried, waking him again. He glanced at the clock, surprised, as he picked her up to take her to Steph. She was sleeping longer at night, thank god.

He got Steph awake enough to nurse, and then walked a fussy baby around the living room. She would calm in his arms, but each time he tried to lay her down, the squalling would start again. He had meetings lined up tomorrow. He could go without sleep if necessary, but would rather not. So finally he just went back to bed and took Livy with him.

…

Steph woke three hours later, her breasts aching. But Livy wasn't crying yet. While trying to find a comfortable position to steal a few more moments of sleep, a slight movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. She propped herself up on her elbows so she could see better.

Ranger was sound asleep, lying flat on his back. Livy was curled up on his chest, her little butt poking up into the air and wiggling back and forth.

Steph felt a slow smile spreading over her face as she stared at them. It had to be one of the most adorable sites she had ever seen. She lay back down on her side so she could continue watching them. The room was dark, but there was enough moonlight streaming in through the open drapes to allow her to see.

She wanted to be angry with him - her life would be so much less complicated if she could stay angry with him. But invariably, each time he pissed her off, she had no ability to sustain it. He went and did something like this where he proved how good of a dad he was being, how good their lives could be together.

But that was the crux of it. Their lives could have been good together. But he hadn't wanted that - he'd walked away. Now he was back, but why? Just to impress Julie like he'd said? And for how long?

In the month they had been living together, there had been flashes of the tenderness that she had so desperately needed from him months ago. But that was all. There was no love or affection. There was lust, but there had always been that. He was giving her his time, his presence. His body if she wanted it. But not his heart.

If he didn't love her, not really, how the hell could she trust him to stick it out?

Before, the lust simmering between them had always been a bit thrilling, a little exciting. Now, it was deadly. The passion, without any real love, or trust, between them, was strong enough to swallow them both whole. Their relationship would destroy her - if not through the passion that she would eventually succumb to, then certainly through the control he was ruthlessly exerting over every aspect of her life.

She was terrified she was going to give in to him. Regardless of how much she loved him, she had to have that divorce.

…

The next week passed with more tension than the one before it had. He started spending more time in the apartment with her and Livy, rather than disappearing to his office. Even if Joe were in the apartment, he'd stick around. Somehow, they were getting along. Maybe between them, the lines had been drawn and decided.

The restlessness that had sprung up within her from his torturous kiss the week before continued to plague her. It grew, until she thought she would lose her mind if she had to be stuck in the apartment with him another day.

Finally, she confronted him. "You're lawyer never sent me the revised divorce papers."

"That's because I didn't give them to him."

She turned to him and glared. He was sitting in the rocking chair with Livy, who for once, was blessedly quiet. She had been sprawled on the couch, but now she sat up to face him. "It's been over a month, Ranger! We need to get the child support figured out so that we can get on with the rest of it."

He didn't reply.

"Well, are you going to give him the papers?"

"No."

Her feet came off the coffee table with a thud. "What the fuck? Why not?"

He shrugged, like the whole thing was unimportant. "Because I'm not giving you a divorce."

…


	15. Chapter 14

_As you probably guessed, this is the 'beginning of the end,' so to speak. Two more chapters after this one. Still don't own them, make no profit, rating for language…_

…

_He shrugged, like the whole thing was unimportant. "Because I'm not giving you a divorce."_

She fought back the panic that was clawing at her chest and trying to escape.

He kept talking, in that expressionless, monotonous tone. "It's better for us to stay married. We can live here in the building and..." He kept going.

She was going to scream. It was welling up in her, alongside this blinding panic. She was losing control again. He was bulldozing over her with a ruthlessness that she'd always known he possessed but that he had never used against her. Her words came out almost more as gasps than as words. "What? Why--"

He kept talking. "...and security is always a question. This will make it more manageable."

He had stopped. He was looking at her with an eyebrow raised, waiting for her answer. The first thing sprang to mind flew from her mouth: "You bastard!"

Not even the slightest change to his facial expression.

"You can't do this, Ranger. You said when you made me marry you that we'd undo it."

"I was angry."

It was all she could do to hold in that scream. To rail against the injustice of him holding her hostage in a relationship when he had no more feelings for her than 'security' for the baby. "And what?" she finally managed to say. "You're not angry now? I don't care. I want a divorce."

Still no response.

"You can't force me to stay here against my will. That's kidnapping."

His gaze finally locked with hers. There was no give in his expression, no compromise. "I'm not locking you in the building, Stephanie. I'm just not signing the papers."

"Why the fuck not?"

"Does it matter?"

She took a deep breath, trying to calm her thundering heart. It took another three breaths before she was calm enough to speak. "Fuck you, Ranger."

She stood and marched toward him, grabbing Livy from his arms. In the bedroom, she set Livy on the bed while she started gathering up their clothes. Tears stung her eyes as she packed what they needed into an overnight bag. Her chest was aching, enough that she had to stop and rub the heel of her hand over her breast bone.

She leaned over Livy on the bed while she tried to get her clothes on. "Come on, baby," she said, grabbing for one of Livy's flailing arms. "It's just going to be you and me now, but we're going to do just fine." And damn Ranger for proving that there was going to be something missing in their lives if they went on without him.

She had almost believed him, almost thought she could trust him again. God, she was an idiot.

She glanced around the room, her breath catching as she did. She'd been living there over a month, and in that time, it had become _their _room, their home. But she hadn't wanted to live here, hadn't even agreed really, and she was going to go crazy if she didn't have some level of control over her life.

Now she was the one making the decisions. _And the mistakes_, a little voice in her head said. She paused in her packing, her hand still resting on one of Livy's baby blankets. Her eyes drifted around the room again, pausing on the bassinet beside the bed, the stack of clean onesies on the dresser, the pacifier on the nightstand. A hair band of hers and Ranger's watch were beside the pacifier.

Her heart started pounding harder, as her mind frantically flipped through scenarios. She could stay, or she could take Livy and run - work out some custody arrangement they could both live with. The enormity of the decision she was facing weighed down on her. It wasn't just her that was going to be effected, but Livy's future would be dictated by this decision as well. And what if she made the wrong one?

"I love you. You know that, right?"

She whipped around and saw Ranger standing in the doorway. No, she didn't know that. She still didn't.

"Stay with me," he said.

Steph glanced back at Livy, who was lying on the bed, happily waving her arms around. "Is that an order, or are you asking?" And could she trust him, regardless?

"I'm asking you, babe. I want you to stay. What do you want?"

It was the moment of decision. Their eyes met. Her world narrowed to just this moment as each of her senses focused entirely on his presence. The heat in his eyes, the intensity of his gaze boring through her, had a magnetizing effect drawing her toward him. It was a pull that she wouldn't have been able to resist, even if she had wanted to. But fear of making the wrong choice had her frozen in place.

She watched as he moved toward her, watched his hands come up. Unable to either stop him or encourage him, she simply stared as his fingers moved closer to her. They brushed over her cheeks, and then his palms framed her face.

"Stay with me," he said again. His voice was lower this time, more forceful.

She drew a deep breath. He was asking for a lot - he was asking for everything. Her voice was frozen in her throat, even if she could have known what she wanted to say. Her heart started pounding and a flush seared her cheeks. She wondered absently if he could feel the growing heat in her face on his palms.

His head lowered, inch by inch, until his lips were only a millimeter from her own. He was waiting for an answer, she realized, and wasn't above coercion. The temptation was strong. So strong. Ranger had always been good up close, and now was no exception. Her body was on fire, every nerve sensitized, prepared for the exact instant that his lips would make contact with hers. And yet she still couldn't bring herself to take that final necessary step.

His eyes hardened and she could feel him starting to retreat.

"This isn't fair, Ranger."

He didn't reply, just kept staring at her.

"You're asking me for everything. You want me to stay in this relationship with you, you want me to stay married to you. You want me to trust you. But you're not giving me anything in return."

…

He stared at her, uncomfortable with how close to the truth she was. He focused on the tangibles. "I think I'm giving you an awful lot. Physical and financial security, a good life for you and for Livy."

"A life where you control every aspect of it. A life where you can walk away if something angers you." She took a step back from him, out of his reach, and crossed her arms over her chest. "That's not the kind of life I want."

"I do love you, Stephanie"

The look she gave him was so full of sadness she seemed haunted by it. "We both know that's not true."

She turned and picked up the half-packed bag. Her movements were lethargic as she bent to put Livy in her carrier and lift it. She gave him a final searching, almost pleading, look before turning and walking out.

The click of the door closing behind her resonated in the silent apartment. Empty apartment. Fuck. He dropped onto the bed. Who cared if she left? Isn't this what he wanted? To keep himself far enough removed from her emotionally that it wouldn't matter what she did.

But he hadn't even come close to accomplishing that.

Fuck it. If it made him weak to need her this much, then it made him weak. He could live with that. But she wasn't leaving him. He grabbed his keys and headed to the control room. There was a tracker in her car - she couldn't get very far.

…

She blinked back tears as she drove. Her mind was sluggish, trying to figure out what she had just done and what in the world she would do now. Stopping at a red light, she banged her head on the steering wheel. From the back, Livy started crying. She groaned. She squeezed her eyes shut tight and tried to untangle herself form the cloying layers of panic weighing down on her.

A horn honked behind her, causing her to straighten and start driving again. She wasn't paying attention to where she was going - just driving. Buildings and houses blurred in her peripheral vision. Livy kept screaming. When she finally blinked her surroundings back into focus, she found herself in the Burg. Joe - she could go to Joe. He would help her.

She sped up, desperate to get there, to find some relief from whatever was making her chest hurt so badly. She cringed as Livy's screams grew louder.

Pulling into the driveway, she slammed the gear shift into park. She jumped out, grabbed Livy from the back and rushed to the door. Since she didn't have a free hand to use her key, she knocked and waited for Joe, shifting from foot to foot and trying to shush the baby.

He took one look at her duffel bag and tear-stained face and stepped back to let her in. "What happened."

"I don't know." She dropped her bag and shifted Livy to her other arm. The screaming was slowing down her muddled mind that much farther. "Do you have a vacuum?" Her voice was high and thin, panicky.

"A what?"

Her gaze darted frantically around the room. She needed a vacuum. She needed to make Livy stop crying. "He said--" She sniffed and tried again. "She would stop if he--" Fresh tears spilled out of her eyes. She shifted the baby again. "Oh Livy, please stop."

"Okay," Joe said, stepping forward. "One crying woman at a time." He took Livy and cradled her close. "Running a vacuum cleaner will make her stop?"

Steph nodded and wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands. Joe walked to the hall closet and pulled one out. Steph hurried over and unwound the cord, jamming it into the nearest plug. She flipped the switch. Within a few minutes, Livy stopped screaming and settled against Joe, fussing, but not crying.

"Okay," Steph said, wiping fresh tears from her eyes. "Okay." She stumbled over to the couch and dropped her head in her hands. "Oh my god, what did I do?"

Joe came and sat down by her on the couch, still holding Livy against his chest. They were far enough away from the vacuum to be able to hear each other. "Why don't you start by telling me what happened."

"He told me I had to make a decision. He wasn't going to give me the divorce. I didn't know what to do. He wanted me and Livy to stay and for us to stay married and--"

"Steph," he said slowly. "That's a good thing, right?"

"No!" She scrubbed at her face with her hands - where were these damn tears coming from? "I mean, yes, it's good that he wants joint custody and all, but I just...I can't--" She trailed off tried to catch her breath.

She blew out a long sigh and finally managed to stop the tears. Closing her eyes, she leaned back against the couch. Her mind was still racing, but she kept taking deep breaths. It didn't work entirely, but it helped. It at least calmed her enough that she could explain.

"I need to be the one making the decision, you know? I never really decided that I wanted to be with Ranger instead of you, or that I wanted a baby, or that I wanted to work for him instead of bounty hunting. All that just kind of happened." She stopped for a minute, trying to get her thoughts organized in her head enough to actually make sense. "Do you know why I slept with Ranger in the first place?"

Joe shifted uncomfortably. "I can guess."

"He brought over those pictures of you and Terry and I was just so fucking mad. I was just so pissed and he was there and I didn't even think it through. And then he left and it was like I had lost both of you."

He nodded.

"And then I found out I was pregnant and I switched jobs and I was happy. I was in control of my life. And then Ranger shows up and forces me to marry him. And all of a sudden, he's making every decision for me."

"I'm going to guess that you put up a fight when it came to the marriage thing," Joe said.

She smiled and wiped away the remnants of her tears. "Yeah. He had to shove the pen into my hand. The judge threatened me with contempt if I didn't sign."

"And then you decided you wanted a divorce."

"Yes! I decided it. I decided I wanted a divorce, I got the lawyer, I got the papers ready, and everything was fine. I had Livy and then he shows up. And all of a sudden he's making me move in with him and he's refusing to give me the divorce and it's starting all over again.

"He doesn't love me," she said. "Or at least, not like I love him, so he can hold himself back. He doesn't have to take any risks. I'd be different if it was both of us, but it's just me plunging head-first into this thing. And if I stay with him, what then?"

Then he can walk all over me, she thought. If she handed over her heart with nothing in return, he'd have the power to destroy her. To control and manipulate her.

Just like him refusing to give her the divorce.

She rubbed her hands over her face. "It's like I can either have control over my life and make my own decisions, or I can be with him. I can't have both. And even if I did want to be with him, how the fuck do I ever trust him again?"

"So you left," Joe said.

She nodded. Fresh tears filled her eyes. "I lived that way for so many years - letting the two of you and my mother and everybody else decide everything for me. I'm not going back to that. I can't." She dropped her head into her hands as a sob escaped her. "But I want to be with him so badly." She bent forward at the waist, trying to control the tears, but it wasn't working. She gasped for a breath.

A blow sounded at the door.

Fuck.

…

He banged on the door again. Over his dead body was Morelli taking away his wife and daughter. He had raised his fist to knock again when Morelli opened the door. Livy was asleep on his shoulder.

He glanced inside and caught sight of the vacuum in the middle of the room, still running. "Was she screaming?" he said, keeping his voice low.

Joe nodded and came out onto the front porch, closing the door behind him. Ranger held out his arms and took Livy from him. Her little mouth opened and closed a couple times, but then she settled against Ranger's chest without waking up. "What's she saying?"

Joe shook his head. "I'm not making this easy for you. You want her, you gotta earn it."

Ranger sighed. "Can I talk to her?" he said, motioning inside with his head.

"Sure." Joe opened the door and led him into the living room. He flipped off the vacuum and disappeared into the kitchen.

Ranger sat down on the edge of the coffee table so that he was facing her. "Steph?" he said. She didn't answer. Keeping one hand on the baby, he used the other to pry Steph's hands away from her face. Her eyes were red and puffy, and her mascara was ruined. She turned her head away from him. "Babe."

He tried to take a deep breath, but the room had run out of air. "Don't do this, Stephanie. Don't walk away." His voice was bordering on begging, but he was running out of pride.

"Why not?"

The million-dollar question. "Because I love you."

Her gaze slid to his, then away.

"What do I need to do to prove it?"

She didn't answer for a moment. Then she said, without looking at him, "You need to take a risk, Ranger. You want me - heart, body, and soul - but you're not risking anything. You're keeping me at an arm's length."

He stared at her. She wanted him to strip away his defenses, lower his guard. Make himself vulnerable. The one thing he swore he would never do, not even for Steph.

Livy moved against his chest, drawing his attention. He tried to remember all the reasons he was resisting. She could hurt him, manipulate him. His enemies would have a better foothold to get to him through her. He'd lose his mind if he lost her.

That was it - the last one. To give her everything and watch her walk away...

He'd always said that Steph was his weakness. His love for her - his need for her - made him weak. What if it didn't?

What if it made him stronger?

What if it wasn't control over his feelings for her that he needed, but the security - the strength - that came from knowing that she loved him the same way.

Could he do it? Was he strong enough to be vulnerable? For her? His hands were starting to sweat. He shifted his hold on Livy and cleared his throat. Steph still wasn't looking at him. But her pain was tangible. The light in her eyes, the joy and warmth in her that had always drawn him to her was gone. He had done this to her, and now he had to be strong enough to fix it.

She'd had more faith in him than anyone else. More, certainly, than she should have. Did he have that much faith in her? The ring he had given her - his grandmother's ring - was on her finger. He reached out with his free hand and touched it. He slid it around in a circle. She didn't react.

Christ, this was hard.

And he not only had to say it, he had to prove it. How the fuck did he do that? His heart was about to pound out of his chest. He glanced down at the baby asleep on his shoulder and tried to steel himself.

"Okay," he said. His voice was hoarse. "Okay." Another deep breath. "I'll give you the divorce."

Her eyes slid back to his and held.

"I'll sign the papers. I'll give you the divorce."

She frowned a little.

Another deep breath. The hard part. "You can walk away. You can take Livy. I'm trusting you not to."

…

Her breath hitched. She stared at him, but couldn't make her mind make sense of all of it.

"Do you understand what I'm saying, Steph? I don't trust anyone."

She swallowed hard. "You trust your men. You trust Tank."

He shook his head. "I trust their skill. I trust them to back me up. But I don't share anything of my personal life with them. I wouldn't be heartbroken if Tank left."

But he would be heartbroken if she left, she realized. He didn't say it out loud - he didn't have to. It was written all over his face. For once, the mask he wore the for world was gone.

Her voice was whisper soft when managed to speak. "What do you get out of it?"

"I get you, Steph. I get you, without coercion. I get you, knowing that you're there because you want to be, not because I forced your hand."

She glanced down at their hands. Her left hand was still in his, his hold so tight it was starting to hurt. She didn't tell him to let go. Watching him fiddle with her ring, she tried to figure out what to say. What to do.

She had no idea what she should do. But she did know what she couldn't do. "Ranger--" She swallowed hard and tried again. She kept her attention on their hands. Looking at him wasn't an option. "Ranger, I needed you, and you weren't there. You were so angry and you treated me like--"

Finally, she looked up at him. Regret was etched onto his face. "That's nice that you want to trust me, but why in the world would I trust you? Are you actually going to stick around this time? Are you going to keep ordering me around and controlling me? And if I don't follow your orders, what then? Are you just going to get mad and leave again?"

She untangled her hand from his and reached out for Livy. "We can work out the custody, you can visit Livy, but..." She sighed and settled the baby in her arms. "It's a nice sentiment. Hell, it's everything I wanted to hear and if you'd said it six months ago... I'm sorry."

He stood and looked down at her. For a moment, the intensity in his eyes made her waver. Almost. She held his gaze as long as she could, until pain and regret made her look away. She cleared her throat and shifted Livy. His hands, at eye level with her, were clenching into fists and unclenching. Slowly she raised her gaze back to his.

His face was expressionless, his eyes blank. "Okay," he said. He turned and walked out.

…


	16. Chapter 15

_So I'm having the kind of day today where I keep falling asleep at my desk. And since I needed to do something to wake myself up, I thought I'd post early today. _

_I have to give a really big thanks to Tracy here, for helping me with the ending of this story. I think this is the fourth ending that we tried :) I was tempted to leave it with the last chapter, but, alas…I am still a babe._

_So here we go…_

…

He stood and looked down at her. For a moment, the intensity in his eyes made her waver. Almost. She held his gaze as long as she could, until pain and regret made her look away. She cleared her throat and shifted Livy. His hands, at eye level with her, were clenching into fists and unclenching. Slowly she raised her gaze back to his.

His face was expressionless, his eyes blank. "Okay," he said. He turned and walked out.

It was dead silent in the house. As if, for that moment, everything was frozen. Paused. Then she heard Ranger's truck start in the driveway. Bob barked. Livy hiccupped and let out a little sigh against her shoulder.

Steph squeezed her eyes shut tight. She had done the right thing. She was sure she had done the right thing. Over and over again, she told herself that. She couldn't stay with a man she couldn't trust - no one could.

Letting out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding only intensified the pain. Had she done the right thing? She tightened her arms around Livy and waited for the world to right itself.

It didn't work.

Joe walked back into the living room and sat down beside her. "You okay?"

She nodded her head, fast, frantic. "I'm fine. Good. It had to be done."

"What are you going to do?"

She looked at him. "Do?"

"Where are you going to live?"

She stared at him with wide-eyes for a moment. That hadn't even crossed her mind. "My apartment, I guess."

"Can you take care of Livy alone yet?"

"Of course I can. I don't need him. I can do it myself."

He brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and gave her a small smile. "I know you can, Cupcake. But I was kind of hoping you needed me. Why don't you both stay here for a while. You don't want to rush into anything."

"That's not fair to you, Joe."

He met her eyes. "Do it anyway."

A lifeline. Grabbing at it, she said, "Okay. She cries a lot, are you okay with that?"

He nodded.

"It wouldn't be for long. I just--"

"It's okay to need help sometimes, you know."

She nodded and stared down at Livy for a moment before looking back up at Joe. "Do you think I did the right thing?" She hated how thin and scared her voice sounded, and the tears that pushed at her eyelids.

"I don't know, Steph."

She nodded again and blinked, willing herself not to cry. Joe wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her towards him. Sighing, she shifted Livy so she could settle against him, her face pressed into his neck.

…

Ranger drove back to his office an autopilot. Without making a conscious decision to do so, he had dropped into lock-down mode: his breathing was steady and shallow, his eyes scanning everything, all of his senses hyper-vigilant, ready for the first hint of danger.

Everything else was numb, which was a blessing, because thinking about anything would have been disastrous.

He walked into his office and shut the door behind him. The divorce papers were sitting on the edge of his desk, where they had been since Steph handed them to him over a month ago. He stared at them for a moment before sitting down and opening them. Without re-reading, he marked the changes he wanted and faxed them to his lawyer.

He absently focused on the damn fax machine, watching each page get sucked in, hearing the beep as each was successful. Every beep seemed to get a little louder, a little more final.

He rubbed his hands over his face. There was work that needed to be done. He couldn't just sit here staring at a fax machine all day. A stack of paperwork was on his desk - he had been putting it off to spend more time helping with the baby. He reached for it before he noticed that his hand was shaking. Dropping his hand, he took a few deep breaths, trying to regulate his heartbeat before reaching again for the paperwork.

It didn't matter, he told himself. None of it mattered. He'd told Steph she could have a divorce, and he'd meant it.

He stared at the papers in front of him, trying to force the numbers on the page into focus. He'd been divorced before; this wasn't any different. Same paperwork, same custody and support decisions. It was just a different name on the papers; that was all.

It certainly wasn't the kind of thing that made him unable to work.

His fax machine beeped, startling him. It was the papers from the lawyer's office, with the changes made. Reaching for them, he glanced at the clock. It had been an hour - he was losing time.

He flipped through the revised papers, signing at all the marked spots. He didn't know why he had thought Steph would do anything different. She had been right - she sure as hell couldn't trust him after everything he'd done to her. He'd left her with one option: walking away.

For once, she hadn't given in.

He couldn't help being a little proud of her. After all, she shouldn't trust him. Which raised the question of how exactly one went about regaining someone's trust. He cursed under his breath and signed the last form. There was nothing to win, no plans to be made.

He had told her she could walk away, free and clear. He had meant it, even if it killed him.

A knock sounded on the door and Lester stuck his head in. "Hey, where's Steph? I have something for the baby, but when I went upstairs, she wasn't there."

"She left."

"Well, when's she coming back?"

"She's not." The words were harder to say than he expected.

Lester held his eyes for a moment before nodding once and leaving.

The worst part, he thought as the finished making sure all the paperwork was complete, was that for years he had been keeping Steph as a distance because he was convinced she made him weak. When it was too late, when he was forced to walk away from her, he finally figured out that it wasn't true.

He fed the papers into the fax machine and left the office. He couldn't stand to hear the damn thing beep.

…

Steph was nursing Livy when Joe came in. He'd been called out late for a crime scene an hour after Ranger left, and Steph had spent the evening trying not to think.

"How'd it go?" she said.

He shut the front door, trying to keep out the frigid air and stomped the snow off his boots. "Okay. Looks like an overdose." He nodded his head toward Livy. "Have you gotten any sleep?"

She shook her head. It was after 3 am, and she hadn't lay down yet. Even if the baby hadn't kept her up, there was no way she could have slept. Every time she closed her eyes, her mind filled with the image of Ranger's face as he left, trying to read any emotion, figure out what he had been thinking. What he wanted.

Joe laid a stack of papers on the coffee table. "These were faxed to the TPD."

"What is it?"

"You're divorce."

Her breath caught. It was what she wanted, she reminded herself. What she needed. "That was fast."

"If nothing else, he's a man of his word, I guess."

Her heart flipped over. "Yeah." She stared at the papers. Livy wiggled, drawing her attention. Steph lifted her to her shoulder to burp before looking back up at Joe. "I guess I just have to sign them and send them back."

"Do you need a lawyer?"

She shook her head. "He's giving me everything I want. More, actually. I'll let his lawyers deal with it."

"Isn't there a waiting period in Jersey?"

She nodded. "Eighteen months unless you can prove adultery. I got my divorce from Dickie in days."

"That's a long wait."

"You're telling me." She was the one who had to stay married to him for that long. So much for getting control of her life back.

"Want me to look over it all for you, just in case?" He was eyeing the papers, cop mode. He was being overprotective, but that was okay.

"Sure, thanks," she said.

He took the papers into the kitchen - a light clicked on, spilling into the dim living room. She re-settled Livy at her breast and resumed rocking, hoping the repetitive motion would stop her frantic thoughts. She hadn't really expected Ranger to give her the divorce, and certainly not at this speed. Not after he had been fighting her for weeks. Why now?

"Uh, Steph?" Joe said from the kitchen. "There's a lot of money here."

She sighed. "I told him I didn't want it."

He appeared in the doorway, holding the papers. "It's all for Livy, but it's a lot. And there's a house too."

She had forgotten about that. "I thought he was kidding about the house."

"I knew he had money, but--" Joe looked back down at the paper. "But because this is all for Livy, a judge isn't going to let you turn it down."

"That's what he said too."

"Don't you want a settlement?"

"And give him one more way to control me? No thanks."

Joe set the papers on the coffee table. "Well, regardless, you're certainly not getting screwed. I'm actually kind of surprised how generous it is. But then again, he's been good with Livy since he showed up."

Steph closed her eyes. "Can we talk about something else?"

"Sure. It's just--the house may be a good idea. It's a nice part of town, and it's yours, free and clear. I mean, you could sell it, but--"

She nodded, praying the conversation was over. She didn't want to talk about Ranger. She didn't want to talk about divorcing Ranger. She just wanted to stop thinking about him. But given the way she missed him already, only hours after he had left, the chances of that happening seemed slim.

…

One monotonous day followed another.

"Don't you want to look through these papers?" Joe said.

She shook her head. "Not yet." She couldn't handle it yet. In the three days since Ranger walked out, she hadn't been unable to get a handle on anything. The papers sat where Joe had dropped them on the coffee table. She refused to touch them. Instead, they mocked her. Every time she sat in the living room with Joe or Livy, she stared at those papers. When she walked away, she thought about them.

Joe had shuffled Livy to Ranger on two of the evenings, letting Steph hide. But the hours where she hadn't had a baby as a distraction had been worse. Then those papers were the only thing she could think about.

What she couldn't figure out was why, after weeks of being a bastard, he had given in. Not at any point in the past six months had he cared about her opinion, or what his demands were costing her. Now, all of a sudden, he was willing to give her everything she wanted?

"I thought you wanted a divorce. Wasn't that what all this was about?" Joe said.

"Yes!" She signed and rubbed a hand over her forehead. "Yes, I want the divorce."

"All you have to do is sign the papers and send them to his lawyers."

"I know. I'll do it today." Of course, she had said that yesterday. And the day before that.

Joe stared at her for a minute. "You don't _have _to do this, you know. I mean, if you want to be with him--"

"I don't."

Joe shrugged. "Okay." He kissed her on the forehead and set Livy down on the couch beside her. She was lying on her back, little hands and feet waving in the air. "I'm headed to work. Call me if you need anything. Otherwise I'll bring home Pino's for dinner."

She nodded, but she still couldn't tear her eyes away from the damn stack of papers. "I have to run some errands today. Do you need anything?"

"Yeah, get more coffee." He gave her another quick kiss, blew bubbles on Livy's tummy, and walked out.

Steph grabbed a rattle, handing it to Livy, and tickled her, making her laugh, focusing on the baby rather than her inability to deal with Ranger. But when Livy fell asleep, she forced herself. She grabbed the papers, marched to the kitchen, and sat down at the table with a pen. She didn't bother to read the child support amounts - it would only piss her off. She opened to the first place that need her signature and poised the pen over it.

"Sign it," she said aloud. "Just sign it."

Her hand was trembling so badly she could barely hold the pen against the paper. "Fuck!" She threw the pen down in disgust. This was ridiculous. She wanted a divorce. She needed the divorce. Hell, she was even willing to use the house when it came right down to it.

Then why couldn't she sign the damn papers?

She leaned down to fish the pen out from under the table, and gave the retractable end a firm punch. She flipped to the second page that needed her signature, thinking that a fresh page would help.

She couldn't do it.

She had to do it. She sure as hell couldn't stay married to him. Not when she couldn't trust him. But why had he sent the papers at all?

Her phone rang - the batman theme song. It had been so long since he'd called her from his cell that it took her a second to place the tune. Since before he found out she was pregnant, that's for sure. Something about it made her breath catch. When he had called her from Miami, it had always been from his office phone. And when she'd lived with him at RangeMan, he'd called the apartment line rather than her cell.

The phone was sitting on the coffee table, still ringing. She walked into the living room and stared at it, unable to move to either answer it or turn it off. It was the tune, she realized, that was bothering her. Before it had always made her smile. Some deep knowledge that she could trust him to rescue her from whatever happened. She should have changed the ring-tone when she first realized that that was no longer true.

It stopped ringing.

…

She finished running her errands and got back to Joe's an hour before he was due home. She tried to clean up a bit, feeling bad that they had taken over his entire house. She had to find somewhere else for her and Livy to live - this wasn't fair to Joe. She was finishing folding the laundry when he walked in.

"Hey," he said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek and picking up Livy from her blanket on the floor. "Wow, you were busy."

"Yeah, I got some groceries, and I threw your clothes in the wash while I was doing it."

Joe grinned. "See? You can be a good housewife after all."

"Right." She flicked him with the towel she was folding. "There's no way I'm keeping this up. My maternity leave is over next week, and I have every intention of going back."

He grabbed the bag of food he had set down when he walked in and headed for the kitchen, still carrying Livy. "These papers are still unsigned," he said. "Ranger will be here for them any minute."

"What?" she said, rushing into the kitchen. "What?"

Joe was unpacking the food with one hand and holding Livy against his chest with the other. "He said he called you. He's coming over to see Livy and get the papers. Didn't he call?"

"No he didn't call! Do you think I'd still be here if I knew he was coming?" The realization that he _had _called came a moment too late. She hadn't checked her messages. "What time did he say he was coming?"

"Six." He kept calmly setting food on the table.

She ran for her phone in the living room. Her hands were shaking so badly that it took her two tires to punch in the code for the voicemail, but a second later, his deep voice was filling her senses.

"_I'm stopping by to see Livy around six, and I'll pick up the papers then. And just a head's up, babe--" _He paused and his voice lowered even farther._ "This isn't over."_

Steph tried to take a keep breath but couldn't. What the hell did that mean? What wasn't over? He had sent the damn divorce papers. And he was going to be here for them any minute. She had to have them signed before he arrived. Sinking back into the chair at the kitchen table, she looked at the papers. The pen she had been using earlier was gone. "Where's my pen?"

"What?"

"The pen!" She was getting frantic. She _had _to sign the papers before he got there. "I need a pen!"

Joe stared at her like she had lost her mind. Maybe she had. At the moment, it was a distinct possibility. A car door slammed outside.

"Get me a pen!"

Joe opened the junk drawer, grabbed a pen, and tossed it to her. A knock sounded at the front door.

"Stall him," she said. She flipped the first page she needed to sign.

Nothing happened.

She heard the front door open, and muffled voices. She heard footsteps.

Sign, damnit!

"Babe."

His low, rumbling voice froze her. Her pen had yet to make the slightest mark on the paper, no matter how many times her mind screamed for her hand to write.

His fingers settled on her shoulder, making her flinch. "Did you get my message?"

She shook her head. "No, I was out. I was running errands with Livy. I had to buy coffee."

His grip on her shoulder tightened as he stepped to the side of her. Slowly, she raised her gaze to him. Her heart flipped over in her chest, making her wish she hadn't looked at him. He had Livy now, tucked on his chest, her little face nestled into his neck. She was making happy noises.

When she focused on Ranger, the look on his face was infinitely tender, his gaze searching her eyes and face, moving over her hair, drinking her in like it had been weeks since he had seen her instead of only days.

It occurred to her then that maybe he did love her enough, the way she needed him to love her. "Why did you send the papers?" she said. Her voice was hoarse.

His lips tilted up, almost smiling. "Because I finally figured it out."

She stared at him, but he didn't explain the cryptic remark any further. She turned back to the papers, tightening her grip on the pen. She had to sign them. No way was she sitting here in front of him, not able to to do this.

"You were right, you know."

"About what?" she said, not looking back up at him.

"You would have been an idiot to trust me."

"That hasn't changed."

When he didn't reply, she chanced another glance at him. This time he was smiling. She gave him a peevish look. "Has it?"

"Like I said, I figured it out."

"Figured _what _out?"

He moved his hand from her shoulder and grabbed her left hand. She was still wearing the ring. She had meant to take it off. But she hadn't been able to that any more than she could sign the papers in front of her.

He spun the ring around, rubbing his fingers over the metal. "Do you need more time?"

She glared. "More time for what?"

He motioned with his head. "To sign the papers."

She was all turned around. She couldn't follow anything that he was saying, and why the fuck did he look so smug? She jerked her hand away from him. "I still don't understand why you're doing this."

"Because if this is what it takes to get you to trust me again, than this is what I'll do."

She stared at him, wide-eyed.

"This isn't over, babe. If you need time, that's fine, but don't think for a second that this is it." His gaze pinned her and his voice dropped. "This isn't over"

Anger burst through her. Once again, he thought he could walk in here and make her decisions for her. Fuck that. "This _is _over! See - here's the papers right here that say it's all over. Finished. We're done."

"Papers you didn't sign."

She saw red. He wasn't doing this to her again. She made the decisions now. Her chest heaved as she tried to breathe. She grabbed the first sheet and his time, when she tried to sign her name, it worked. The second sheet, then the third... "You can't control me, Ranger," she said as she kept going through the forms. "Not anymore."

"I'm not controlling anything, babe. Do what you need to do. Make whatever decisions you need to make. Just don't think I'm going to fade into the background."

"Well think again." She signed the last form, grabbed all the papers together and shoved them at him. She pulled the ring off her finger and shoved that at him too. "Here. We're divorced. Congratulations."

His lips tilted up and he slipped the ring into his pocket. "I'll get these filed right away. I can get the waiting period waived. By noon tomorrow, you'll be a free woman."

"Thank god."

He handed Livy back to her, who started screaming the second he let go of her. She sat at the table, staring blankly ahead, rubbing Livy's back to calm her.

It only took the sound of the front door closing for her to realize what a colossal mistake she had just made.

…


	17. Chapter 16

_Since this is the final chapter, I'd just like to say thank you to everyone who read this the whole way through, and everyone who reviewed. Your kind words and encouragement means the world to me._

_Still don't own them or make any profit…._

…

He handed Livy back to her, who started screaming the second he let go of her. She sat at the table, staring blankly ahead, rubbing Livy's back to calm her.

It only took the sound of the front door closing for her to realize what a colossal mistake she had just made.

Ranger dropped the papers in his bag and headed for the airport. He'd give Steph some space for a couple days. His Uncle Jaime had offered to push the paperwork through immediately, using Ranger's part-time residence in Florida. Since it was important to Steph to get the divorce taken care of, and Jersey would keep them married for months, he had agreed.

For the first two days, he had convinced himself that it was over and he had to walk away. That thought hadn't lasted long. He had never backed down in his life and he wouldn't start now.

He had finally figured out that he did love her - enough and in all the right ways - and he wasn't going to let that go. She'd come around. Eventually.

He was a patient man.

As he was boarding the flight to Miami, his phone rang. Tank. Within a few minutes, he would have to turn the phone off, so he didn't bother to answer it. Whatever it was, he was sure Tank could deal with it.

…

Steph sat at the kitchen table, frozen. What had she done? Livy screamed in her arms. She wanted the divorce, right? She'd be free from his control. Free of him entirely.

She jumped up and dashed into the living room. "I have to go." She lay Livy on the couch and started gathering up her things.

Joe watched her dashing around the room. "What?"

"I have to go. I just made a huge mistake, didn't I?"

Joe didn't reply, but when she looked up, he was grinning at her.

"Well don't just stand there. Help me!"

He grabbed a bag and held it open for her. She was shoving in bottles, diapers, clothes, bibs...anything she could find, and most of the laundry she had folded. She jammed Livy into warm clothes, hooked her into her carrier, and covered her with blankets. It was close to an hour before she got everything together. "Okay, what I am forgetting?"

"Your purse." Joe handed it to her, along with her keys.

"Thanks!" She grabbed it all and dashed toward the car.

"Hey!" Joe yelled, standing in the front door. "You didn't eat dinner."

"Give it to Bob." She got Livy secured, and started to get into the front seat. But she pivoted and ran back toward the house. Joe was still on the front porch. She wrapped both arms around his waist. "Thanks."

He dropped a kiss onto the top of her head. "Go put your family back together, Steph."

She stared up at him. Some of that hurt had creeped back into his eyes. "I'm sorry, I..."

"I know." He turned her toward the car and slapped her on the ass. "Go."

She ran back to the car, jumped into the front seat, and raced toward Haywood Street. She had to catch Ranger before he filed those papers. God, she was such an idiot! She had spent three days looking for an ulterior motive in him sending the papers, but it was so simple. It was right there all along.

He loved her.

She slapped the steering wheel with her hand. God, she was in idiot. She screeched to a halt in the parking space closest to the elevator. Hopefully that fact that it was empty didn't mean that Ranger was gone. She had to find him.

She had to stop him. She didn't want to get divorced - if she'd actually wanted to, she would have singed the papers days ago and not in a fit to piss off Ranger. She had been waiting for proof from him that she could trust him, when the proof was the divorce papers and they had been sitting right in front of her the whole time.

Setting Livy's carrier on the floor of the elevator, she jammed the button for the fifth floor. "Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up," she said as it moved through each of the levels at a crawl. The doors opened with a ding and she stepped out, almost landing square in Tank's chest.

"Whoa - slow down Bomber. What's up?"

"Where is he? I need to talk to him."

"Ranger?"

"Yes Ranger!" Who else would she be driving across town like a madwoman to talk to? She shifted her grip on Livy's carrier. "Is he upstairs?"

"No he's--" he checked his watch. "Boarding a plane to Miami."

"Miami! What's he doing in Miami?"

Tank gave her a funny look. "He's doing some work in that office. He's been going back and forth for almost a year now."

She rolled her eyes. "I know that. But why is he going there _now_?"

Tank just looked at her. "To work."

She was barely hanging on to her panic. "Can you get me on a flight?"

Tank just kept looking at her.

"He has the divorce papers. I signed them. He took them, and he's going to file them, and I have to stop him."

"Shit."

Lester rambled up, having heard her last statement, and gave her a grin. "Wanna ride to the airport, Beautiful?"

Tank eyed them both. "I don't know if--"

She pointed her finger at his chest. "Get me on a flight, Tank. Now." She was a woman on edge - she couldn't help herself. She shoved Livy's carrier, which was getting heavier by the second, toward Lester and hit the down button on the elevator.

When she turned back to Tank, he was grinning and has his phone to his ear. "Go get 'em, slugger," he said.

…

"Take a deep breath, Steph," Lester said. "It's going to take hours to get there."

"I know." She tried to stop fidgeting, but it didn't work. She turned around to check on Livy, who was asleep in her car seat in the back.

"So she's finally stopped crying, huh?" Lester said. "I was prepared to lose my ear-drums on this drive."

"She still cries some late at night, or whenever Ranger leaves, but for the most part, she's calmed down."

"Thank god. That kid has a set of lungs on her."

"Yeah. I think she got that from me."

Lester winked at her. She tried to relax until her phone rang. It was Tank.

"There's no flights tonight," he said, as soon as she answered.

"What?" She forced herself to calm down and lower her voice a notch. "What do you mean there's no flights?"

"Ranger's on the last flight from Newark to Miami, and it left half an hour ago. I've got a red-eye out of JFK that leaves in four hours."

"Get me on it."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure, Tank. Get me a seat."

"Where are you guys now?"

Steph glanced at Lester and repeated the question. "Elizabeth," she said to Tank.

"You're going to need more stuff for the baby. Why don't you stop at Mrs. Mansoso's in Newark for a few hours. Ella is willing to get what you need and meet you there."

She glanced at Lester. "Did you have any plans for the evening?"

"I'm all your beautiful."

She grinned. "Sounds like a plan," she said to Tank.

"I'll call and give her a head's up. See in you in an hour or so."

Twenty minutes later, they were pulling up to a now familiar brick house. Lilane, wrapped in a warm winter coat, met them on the porch. "Give me that precious girl," she said, reaching for Livy. She carried her inside, cuddling her close. "Now, what is going on?"

Steph explained in a nutshell - she knew Lilane would be on her side.

Lilane stared at her. "You're going to Miami? Tonight?" She waited for Steph's nod before continuing. "No. There's no way you can deal with Livy and all this."

"I'm sure I can--"

"I'll go with you. You have a pump? We can bottle up some breast milk, and this way you can actually get some sleep. You look dead on your feet, child."

"I don't think--"

"Lester, honey, call Tank and get me a seat on that flight."

Steph tried again. "Lil--"

"And Stephanie, you need a nap. Poor woman, you have bags under your eyes. Go upstairs and lay down. When will she need to eat again?"

Steph blinked at her. So this is where Ranger got it. She glanced at her watch. "Soon."

"Okay then. There's a rocking chair in the living room. You feed Livy, and then give her to me and take a nap. Ella and I are old friends - we'll make sure everything's packed and ready and get you up in time."

Lilane handed her the baby and steered her toward the living room, making more plans as she walked. Knowing it was useless to protest anymore, Steph let her. As tired and panicked as she was, it was a relief to let someone else take charge. She fed Livy, and found herself upstairs, in bed before she knew it. She dialed Ranger's cell phone, but it went straight to voice-mail. Still on the plane then. She closed her eyes and forced herself to relax. She wasn't even sure he had the papers with him. He couldn't file in Florida, could he? Maybe his lawyer was going to file for them - she hadn't thought of that.

She willed herself to sleep. She'd find him first thing in the morning, before he or anyone else could file anything.

Though what she would say when she found him, she had no idea.

…

They arrived at the RangeMan Miami office at ten after seven the next morning. She dashed off the elevator onto the control room floor, running smack into Jose. She had met him when she had come down to get married, and vaguely remembered him Tank's Miami counter-part.

"Stephanie. Nice to see you again." He steadied her arms and moved over to Lilane, kissing her on the cheek. "Mama, how are you?" He took the baby from Lilane's arms, ignoring Steph's swiveling head and wide-eyes. "And this must be my newest niece. Hi baby."

He made a face at Livy, which set her to giggling and batting her arms at his nose.

Lilane spoke in rapid Spanish, and Jose answered her, though his eyes never strayed from Livy. Finally, he glanced at Steph and switched to English. "He's not here. He left half an hour ago."

Steph rubbed a hand over her forehead. She should have called again and told him to stay put, but she still had no idea what to say. "Do you know where he went?"

"No, but I can pull up GPS. Actually, I was surprised to see him at all. I was under the impression it'd be another month or so before he got back down here."

"Yeah, well that may be my fault."

Jose winked. "He always did have his head up his ass, when it came to you."

"Jose!" Lilane said.

He grinned and handed the baby back to her. "Well it's true."

It was the smile, Steph thought. "I should have seen the family resemblance, shouldn't I?"

"Gotta be more aware--"

"Oh no, not you too," Steph said. "One of you is enough."

"Try living with three," Lilane said. "Their father was the same way, God rest his soul."

"Come on," Jose said, slinging an arm around Steph's shoulders. "Let's track down this idiot husband of yours."

Lilane followed them across the control room floor. Steph had given up offering to carry the baby - Grandma was in heaven with all this interrupted baby time.

"Okay," Jose said, leaning over a computer and punching in a series of numbers. A blinking light popped up on screen, moving South. "He's driving downtown. I can call and find out where he's going--"

Steph shook her head. She had to do this in person. Though to be honest, at this point, she was just hoping that if she saw him, the right words would come out her mouth.

"Nick!" Jose yelled. Instantly, a quintessential RangeMan - complete with the black uniform, buff muscles, and a smile able to charm the pants of any woman in a ten-mile radius - appeared in front of her.

Without even meaning to, Steph glanced Nick up and down. "I'm telling you, he could make a fortune off the action figures."

Lilane laughed and Nick's gorgeous face flushed. Steph clamped a hand over her mouth and turned to Lilane. "Did I say that out loud?"

"Yes. And I love your imagination."

She turned back to Nick. "Sorry."

Without cracking a smile, he gave one nod. "Ma'am."

Jose cleared his throat. "Nick, will you please drive Mrs. Manoso--" he cast a glance at Steph as he said it "--downtown and wait for further instructions."

"Sir," Nick said with another terse nod.

Twenty minutes later, after kissing Livy good-bye and leaving her with Lilane, they sat in rush hour traffic. They were watching Ranger's little red dot on the GPS, and it had finally stopped. Her phone rang.

"Where is he?" she said to Jose.

"GPS says he's in a parking garage downtown."

"Which one? Where did he go?"

"Steph, there's no way to know where he went. If he parked downtown, he could have gone anywhere."

"Okay." She tried to think. Dropping her head on the back of the seat, she racked her brain. "Well, what's near the garage. What buildings?"

"Let me see," Jose said. "There's the Basketball arena, that Cuban museum, the Courthouse, there's a mall--"

"The Courthouse," she said. "He's at the Courthouse. He's going to file the papers here." She hung up and turned to Nick. "How fast can you get us there?"

"In this traffic?"

She gave him her best burg glare. "Try."

"Yes ma'am." He hit the gas pedal and started weaving between lanes. Steph grabbed the sissy bar and held her breath. If he was at the courthouse, then he was filing the papers and it would be too late...

She closed her eyes and tried to figure out what she was going to say. Nothing came to her. Before she was ready, Nick was screeching to a stop in front of the courthouse. She looked up at those intimidating steps and white pillars, the same building where she had gotten married.

"Wish me luck," she said under her breath as she climbed out of the SUV.

"Good luck, Mrs. Manoso," Nick said.

She glanced at him. "I didn't actually mean--" She stopped and shook her head. "Do you mind waiting?"

"My orders are to provide what you need today. I'll be right over there." He pointed to a standing area where cars and taxis waited. "Good luck."

She rolled her eyes and headed inside. The last time she had walked up these steps, she had been four months pregnant and cursing Ranger. It seemed like a lifetime ago.

It was a lifetime ago.

She stepped inside was immediately sucked into a flow of rushing people. She was through security and into the main hallway before she realized she had no idea how to find him. The courthouse complex was huge, with multiple buildings - there was no way to know where he had gone.

She gave in and hauled her phone out of her pocket. But when she called his number, it went straight to voicemail. His phone was off. She rubbed her eyes and tried to think. A small Hispanic man bumped into her, pushing her to the side.

"Sorry," she said absently. She moved to the wall, trying to get out of the way. Think! she ordered herself. His Uncle - his uncle had an office here. If he married them, could he divorce them too? Maybe. But if not, maybe he'd at least know where Ranger had gone.

There was a directory against the far wall. She ducked through the hoard of people in the hallway and scanned it. But the sheer number of names was overwhelming, and for the life of her, she couldn't remember the Judge's name.

She called Lilane. "Carlos has an uncle who works in the courthouse. Do you--"

"Jaime," she said. "He's a judge. Jaime Meledez, and let's see...office C-412, if I remember right."

Steph scanned the list of names. There were two J. Melendez listed, but only one was in the C building. "Got it, thanks."

Her heart was in her throat as she rushed in the right direction, weaving through people in less of a hurry than her. "Get out of my way," she muttered toward a group of lawyers standing around talking.

Even following the maps and "you are here" signs, it took her seven minutes and three wrong turns to reach the correct office. By the time she got there, she was frenzied and her breathing was choppy. Every delay meant that much greater of a chance that she was too late.

Finally, she made it. She burst through the door of the outer office, heading straight for the Judge's chambers.

"Excuse me." A secretary blocked her way.

Steph skidded to a stop. She didn't remember a secretary from last time, but she had been so angry that she hadn't noticed much. She pressed a hand to her chest and tried to talk around her rapid breathing. "Is there a Cuban guy in there with him?"

The secretary gave her a blank stare. Right. They were in Miami - everyone was Cuban. Including both the secretary and the Judge. "Uh, really buff, a smile that will make you walk into the wall?"

"Oh! His nephew, yes. But--"

She squelched an inner cheer - she found him! She shoved past the secretary, lunging for the door.

"You can't go in there!"

Steph grabbed the door and jerked it open. Two steps in and Ranger's eyes met hers, freezing her. She stared as he slowly stood, unfolding himself from the chair in front of the Judge's desk.

She bit down on her lower lip and tried to calm her frantic heart. "Hi."

"I'm sorry, Judge," the secretary said from behind her. "I tried to stop her--"

"It's fine, Luisa," Judge Melendez said. "Hello Stephanie."

But she couldn't take her eyes off Ranger. His face was blank - she couldn't read anything in his expression - but there was a warmth in his eyes that hadn't been there in almost a year.

"Babe."

Her heart lurched and her knees almost buckled as she let that word and tone and warmth fill her. Finally wrenching her eyes away from his, she started searching for the papers. There - they were on the Judge's desk. His pen was poised over the bottom sheet.

"No!" She lunged over the desk and snatched them away.

The secretary gasped from the doorway. Probably, no one entirely sane had ever barged in and snatched papers away from the Judge. But when she raised her gaze to his, the Judge was smiling at her.

Did the whole family have that same smile?

"Nice to see you again, Stephanie," he said, holding the pen in the air. "I had a feeling you'd be back. I'm surprised it took this long."

"Yeah, well, it turns out I'm a little stubborn. And your nephew here was being an ass." She turned toward Ranger. "But I changed my mind. I don't want a divorce."

He raised an eyebrow. "It's too late."

"No, it's not," she said, refusing to acknowledge the possibility that he was talking about his heart and not the papers she was holding. She spotted a shredder on the far wall and dashed toward it. "It's not too late. I changed my mind." She pressed the power button and shoved the first page into it.

The sound of the motor filled the small chambers as the shredder ate the first sheet, then the second. "I made a mistake," she said to Ranger, raising her voice so she could still be heard. She shoved the next sheet into the shredder. "I don't want the divorce."

His face didn't change. "Why not?"

She stopped shredding and stared at him. How did she explain this - how did she make him understand - when she didn't entirely understand it herself? She stared at the remaining papers still in her hands. "I figured it out," she said, repeating his cryptic words from the night before.

The lines around his mouth softened. "Figured what out?"

She bit down on her lower lip, trying to get the right words. "That I was running the wrong direction."

His lips tilted up. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled something out and flicked it toward her. It flipped end over end, landing in her outstretched hand. It was the ring - his grandmother's ring. Her fingers closed around it. Forgetting to breathe, or even think, she lifted her eyes to his.

His gaze was dark and serious, but for the first time she could see what had been there all along if she'd been looking for it. He loved her.

He took a step toward her, then another. Reaching her, he uncurled her fingers and took the ring. Without ever breaking eye contact, he slipped it onto her finger, back where it belonged. Before she realized how it happened, she was in his arms. Everything in her stilled - this is where she was supposed to be. Right here. His hand came up to rest on her back and his lips touched hers. A sigh escaped her as she parted her lips, inviting him.

Then she was being lifted off the ground. Her legs came around his waist and his tongue plunged deep into her mouth, claiming her. When she pulled back, he was smiling at her, all 200-watts. "I love you," he said, his voice low, so deep the vibrations moved through her.

"I love you too."

His lips were on hers again when a throat cleared behind them.

She blinked and glanced around the room. Both the Judge and the secretary were staring at them. She could feel her face flaming as she buried her face against Ranger's neck. He chuckled. "Put me down," she said.

She unhooked her legs from around his waist, and slid down his body, until she was standing in front of him again. His arms didn't move from around her. "Gracias, Tio," Ranger said.

Judge Melendez came around form his desk and slapped Ranger on the back before reaching out to shake Steph's hand. "I told you not to give up hope, Stephanie. I knew you two would work it out."

She crinkled up her nose. "I still don't like you."

The Judge smiled wider.

"Where's Livy?" Ranger said.

"She's with your mom, at your office."

Ranger stared at her for a minute. "You brought my mother with you?"

"She kind of has this way of getting what she wants."

He chuckled. "Yeah," he said. "Get used to that." He rested a hand a the small of her back and led her to the door. "Come on, let's go find them."

They were halfway down the crowded courthouse hallway when he pushed her into a small alcove, his hard body pressing hers into the wall. His mouth lowered and his tongue touched hers, hungry, demanding.

When he pulled back to look at her, his eyes were serious. "It's never going to be easy." He traced a finger down the side of her face, whisper soft, and let his hand come to rest cupping her jaw.

"No. I'm stubborn and you're controlling." She gave him a saucy grin. "It's a bad combination."

He smiled and pressed a kiss to her temple, letting his lips linger. "I'm not going anywhere, Steph. I can promise you that."

Her fingers crept up his chest until they were resting over his heart. "Me neither."

"If we both stick it out, it'll work. You think we can do that?"

She studied the ring on her finger, resting against his heart, before meeting his eyes. "Yeah," she said. "I do."

…

_The end…_


End file.
